The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a launch ceremony in Seoul for the Shipbuilding-Shipping Mutual Growth Strategic Council. Attendees included the two ministers, officials from Korea Gas Corp., the Korea Offshore & Shipbuilding Association and the Korea Shipowners’ Association, and executives from major domestic shipbuilders and shipping companies, totaling about 100 people.
The ministries said major competitors have been expanding domestic orders by tying their shipping and shipbuilding sectors together, while South Korea has lagged in coordination despite ranking second in global ship orders and fourth in shipping capacity. With geopolitical risks rising, including the war in the Middle East, they said it has become more important to build a maritime supply chain that connects ships built at home with transport by Korean-flagged vessels.
Centered on the two industry associations and joined by government, industry and academia, the council announced its W.A.V.E. strategy. It calls for securing world-leading “super-gap” technologies; building an industrywide alliance across shipbuilding and shipping; expanding the Korean-flag fleet while ensuring work for domestic shipyards; and creating a shared innovation ecosystem that supports regional economies.
Within the council, the industries agreed to quickly identify detailed tasks under the four pillars and draw up concrete execution plans by year’s end. The council will run standing expert task forces on issues including technology development, demonstrations, orders, finance and regulatory reform, and will link policy proposals to quarterly meetings.
The government and industry also reaffirmed plans to build a “one-team” structure in which shipbuilding and shipping move under a single industrial strategy, including joint work on technology development, demonstrations and fleet expansion. The two ministries said they will pursue regulatory improvements, budget support, demonstration infrastructure and links to regional industrial bases.
The ministries said they are jointly operating the Autonomous Ship M.AX Alliance and plan to push ahead in earnest this year with a 600 billion won project to develop fully autonomous, artificial intelligence-based ship technology, reflecting corporate demand.
They also said they will support future growth areas such as eco-friendly ships powered by ammonia or electricity and the localization of liquefied natural gas cargo tanks, with the oceans ministry focusing on identifying demonstration demand and the industry ministry backing core technology development. The ministries said they will also discuss expanding cooperation to shipping and ports under the Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation project known as MASGA.
Oceans Minister Hwang Jong-woo said shipping and shipbuilding have developed as “key partners” supporting the national economy and import-export logistics. “The launch of this strategic council will be an important opportunity for the two industries to be reborn as a strong public-private ‘one team’ and further enhance global competitiveness,” he said, adding the ministry will strengthen cooperation with the industry ministry in areas including autonomous ship technology development and energy security.
Industry Minister Kim Jeong-gwan said the move was significant because it activates an “execution-oriented” cooperation system that jointly designs and advances demand, technology, demonstrations and institutional improvements beyond the level of separate industries. “Based on the W.A.V.E. strategy, I hope shipbuilding and shipping will ride the coming wave of prosperity and leap forward together,” he said.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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