
High-ranking delegates from Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean met with Indian shipbuilding authorities, raising expectations of potential collaboration to boost India’s shipbuilding industry.
India’s Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways announced Wednesday on social media that Hanwha's delegation led by Senior Vice President Lee Jin-su visited the ministry's Secretary Shri T.K. Ramachandran to discuss opportunities for strengthening partnerships between the company and Indian shipyards.
The meeting came after the Korean delegation visited Hindustan Shipyard, a state-run shipbuilding company in Andhra Pradesh, eastern India, earlier this week.
A Hanwha official said the trip was to “understand the global shipbuilding industry, aiming at enhancing Hanwha’s competitiveness in penetrating the global market,” refusing to put excess significance on the visit.
Hanwha’s visit has fueled growing expectations about the company’s potential involvement in India’s vision to strengthen its shipbuilding industry, especially given the country’s ongoing efforts to establish partnerships with Korean shipbuilding giants.
A delegation led by the secretary visited Seoul in late November to explore potential collaborations with Korea’s shipping and maritime industry, seemingly in line with India’s vision to develop multiple large-scale shipbuilders and become one of the world’s top five shipbuilding powerhouses by 2047.
India needs substantial infrastructure development to achieve its goal to expand the number of its vessels to 2,500 from the current 1,500, as its current 28 shipyards are insufficient to that end.
Some of the delegation members, including high-ranking officials from Indian shipbuilders, toured the shipyard of Hanwha Ocean in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, as well as those of other Korean shipbuilding giants HD Hyundai and Samsung Heavy Industries.
However, some industry insiders believe it is premature to anticipate Korean companies engaging in joint shipbuilding operations in India. They cite that similar expectations of significant progress in shipbuilding collaboration arose when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited HD Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan in 2015.
“India is seeking a model to learn from in order to boost its shipbuilding industry, and its close contact with Korean industries may stem from the fact that Korea is the only country with a strong shipbuilding capability following its rise as an advanced nation,” said an industry insider.