HD Hyundai Secures First U.S. Navy MRO Contract

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. has secured a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) contract for the USNS Alan Shepard, a 41,000-ton Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo vessel operated by Military Sealift Command, the company announced Wednesday.

The work will be performed at HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co.’s shipyard in Ulsan, with completion and delivery scheduled for November.

This contract represents the first MRO deal for HD Hyundai and follows the Korean government’s proposed $150 billion South Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation initiative, dubbed “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” (MASGA). The initiative aims to revitalize the U.S. shipbuilding industry and has been described as instrumental in a broader U.S.-South Korea trade deal that included lower U.S. tariffs on Korean imports.

“This MRO contract is especially meaningful as it is the first awarded following the government’s proposal of the MASGA project for Korea–U.S. shipbuilding collaboration,” said Joo Won-ho, head of the Special Ship Business Unit at HD HHI. “As a representative of South Korea’s shipbuilding industry, we will make every effort to successfully complete the U.S. Navy’s logistics support ship MRO project.”

South Korean participation in U.S. Navy MRO contracts gained significant traction in 2024 through former Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro’s Maritime Statecraft initiative to counter China’s aggressive pursuit of worldwide shipbuilding dominance. The international competition for U.S. Navy MRO work has since intensified, with South Korea, Singapore, and Japan now competing for larger portions of the $15 billion annual market.

Rival Hanwha Ocean previously made history as the first South Korean firm to secure a U.S. Navy MRO contract, successfully completing maintenance and overhaul work on the Military Sealift Command’s dry cargo ship USNS Wally Schirra earlier this year.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industry has been making in roads in the U.S. naval and commercial shipbuilding market. In April, the company signed memorandums of understanding with American defense contractors Fairbanks Morse Defense (FMD) and Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), further underscoring growing South Korean involvement in U.S. shipbuilding. In a related development, HD Hyundai entered into a strategic partnership with Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) in June to construct commercial vessels in the United States, focusing on building LNG dual-fuel containerships.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries brings substantial credentials, with approximately 13% of global market share and 50 years of naval shipbuilding experience. The company has delivered more than 2,300 ships globally as of 2023.

Subscribe for Daily Maritime Insights

Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update

— trusted by our 108,716 members