"Become the world's highest level shipbuilding technology power in 2040!" -- In the face of the rapid rise of China's shipbuilding industry, the South Korean government has taken decisive measures to strengthen the competitiveness of its shipbuilding industry. Following the emergency "blood transfusion" of 80 billion yuan in the financial sector last month, the South Korean government recently announced an additional 10 billion yuan in investment.
The "K-Shipbuilding Super Gap Blueprint 2040" was released, and ten core projects were launched
On July 2, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea held the second K-Shipbuilding Super Gap Technology Alliance (TechAlliance) meeting in Busan and released the "K-Shipbuilding Super Gap Blueprint 2040". According to this blueprint, the South Korean government has decided to jointly invest 2 trillion won (about 10.5 billion yuan) with private enterprises to launch 10 core projects, secure 100 super-gap technologies that lead the global shipbuilding industry by 2040, commercialize ammonia-fueled and hydrogen-fueled ships, and build autonomous navigation platforms.
Kang Kyung-sung, First Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, presided over the meeting, saying, "Although the Korean shipbuilding industry has the world's highest level of manufacturing capacity, there are still shortcomings in some core technology fields such as ship engines and liquid cargo tanks, and the high dependence on overseas imports of ship equipment is also one of the weak links. To this end, the government and more than 100 industry-university-research experts worked together for six months to develop a roadmap for technology development to 2040. ”
Previously, in June this year, in order to help the South Korean shipbuilding industry undertake orders, the South Korean government promoted the financial industry to increase the amount of advance payment guarantee (RG) necessary for shipbuilding contracts, providing a total of 15 trillion won (about 78.9 billion yuan) of financial assistance. The release of the K-Shipbuilding Super Gap Blueprint 2040 is a policy support for the R&D of the Korean shipbuilding industry.
The South Korean government has decided to focus on building a shipbuilding, offshore and supporting powerhouse with the goal of becoming the world's highest shipbuilding technology power by 2040, and to build a ship construction system based on automation. To this end, we will select 100 core technologies (351 specific technologies) that need to be secured in the three major fields of environmental protection, digitalization, and intelligence, and promote 10 core projects that are crucial to the future development of Korea's shipbuilding industry.
The top 10 core projects include ammonia-fueled vessels; liquid hydrogen carriers; liquefied carbon dioxide carriers; large and medium-sized electric propulsion vessels; marine carbon capture devices; autonomous navigation platforms; localization of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid hydrogen cargo tanks; Ultra-light and efficient collaborative robots; unmanned autonomous manufacturing engineering technology; terminal logistics automation system, etc.
The Korean government plans to secure core technologies such as ammonia, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide carriers, which will become the livelihood of the Korean shipbuilding industry after LNG carriers, and to acquire original technologies for smart manufacturing that can solve the problem of gradual labor shortage.
According to the analysis of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea, in terms of 100 core technologies such as hydrogen fuel engines, wind-assisted propulsion, virtual training, and unmanned safe navigation systems, there is a gap of about 1.7 years between South Korea's current technology level and that of major leading countries and regions such as the European Union and the United States, especially the technology related to environmentally friendly ships is 2.2 years behind the European Union. Unlike South Korea's shipbuilding industry, which has a reputation as the world's No. 1 shipbuilding powerhouse, Korean shipbuilders are still lagging behind in future technologies such as original technologies with high added value.
The South Korean government plans to invest 2 trillion won with private companies over the next 10 years to launch 10 core projects. In addition, the National Institute of Technology and Standards (NSTW) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MIT) is formulating a strategy to promote international standards for future ships, which is scheduled to be officially announced in August this year.
The competitiveness of China's shipbuilding industry is "ranked first", and South Korean shipbuilders are facing internal and external troubles
The reason why the South Korean government has provided such a large amount of assistance to the shipbuilding industry is that China is increasingly pursuing the eco-friendly ship market, and at the same time, the Korean shipbuilding industry is suffering from internal and external troubles such as a shortage of skilled labor.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MITI) announced on June 3 that it was concerned about the shipbuilding industry in its "Export Condition Inspection and Additional Support Plan," which was released on June 3. The basis for this is that in 2020, South Korea's market share of eco-friendly ships reached 68%, but by 2023 it has dropped to 40.6%, while China's market share has increased significantly from 23.5% to 49.2% in the same period, achieving a super reversal.
According to the results of the global shipbuilding industry competitiveness analysis released by the Korea Industrial Research Institute earlier this year, China's shipbuilding industry will rank first in the world in terms of comprehensive competitiveness of the shipbuilding industry value chain in 2023. According to the report, in 2023, China is 1.7 points ahead of South Korea in terms of the comprehensive competitiveness of the shipbuilding value chain in the context of the global shipbuilding industry's concentration in South Korea, China and Japan, as well as its increasing dependence on China. This is also the first time that China has surpassed South Korea to "rank first" in this ranking.
At the 2nd K-Shipbuilding Super Gap Technology Alliance Meeting, three major shipbuilders, including HD Korea Shipbuilding & Marine, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Hanwha Marine, said that they would solve the current problems by vigorously introducing and developing welding collaborative robots, virtual reality (VR)-based welding and painting training systems for workers, artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to help foreign workers work on site, and joint production cooperation platforms between shipbuilders and partner companies (subcontractors).
The common voice of the Korean shipbuilding industry is that maintaining the quality of work and maintaining the supply chain with partner companies are becoming the core issues as unskilled foreign workers are gradually replacing skilled labor.
Kang Kyung-sung said at the meeting, "If the government and the private sector work together to secure super-gap technology, the Korean shipbuilding industry will firmly occupy the number one position in the world by 2040." The government will also fully support shipping companies to eliminate investment difficulties and take preemptive measures such as easing restrictions. ”
The K-Shipbuilding Super Gap Technology Alliance was jointly established by the Korean government in December last year by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Korea Industrial Technology Evaluation and Management Service (KEIT), and the Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Equipment Association (KOSHIPA) in order to ensure the future super gap technology of shipbuilding and offshore engineering. The alliance was established as a follow-up to the South Korean government's "Next-Generation Leadership Strategy for the Korean Shipbuilding Industry" released in November last year. The alliance is composed of chief technology officers (CTOs) from 15 organizations, including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, shipbuilding companies, supporting companies, research institutes, and academia, and is operated by three business working groups, including future eco-friendly ships, digital transformation, and intelligent autonomous navigation, with the participation of more than 50 top experts in Korea.
It is reported that the experts participating in the alliance will be responsible for identifying the chokepoint technologies necessary for the future shipbuilding and offshore industry, and proposing a technical level diagnosis and specific technical assurance plan and priority.
The alliance plans to ensure relevant technologies through international cooperation with overseas excellent research institutes, universities and other scientific research institutions, technology investment, and strengthening the industrial value chain, and integrate them with government R&D policies.