HHI and HII Team Up to Build U.S. Navy Auxiliary Ships

South Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and U.S. military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls have agreed to jointly build U.S. navy auxiliary ships, the South Korean shipbuilder said on Sunday.

HHI has a strong track record in this field, having delivered its first auxiliary vessel, HMNZS Endeavour, to New Zealand in 1987, followed by the HMNZS Aotearoa in 2020. The company has also supplied the Republic of Korea Navy with three Cheonji-class and one Soyang-class auxiliary ships.

Leveraging HII’s complex shipbuilding experience and HHI’s expertise with proven designs, the two companies will team to respond to the U.S. Navy’s recent request for proposal for the concept design phase of the next-generation logistics ship (NGLS) program.

The companies signed a memorandum of agreement in Gyeongju, South Korea, where Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) events will take place throughout next week, HD Hyundai Heavy said in a statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to visit Gyeongju in a few days and hold summit talks with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

Under the agreement, the two companies will explore joint investments in building new shipyards or acquiring existing ship construction facilities in the U.S., according to HD Hyundai Heavy.

In April, HHI signed an MoU with HII to share best practices to improve cost efficiency and shorten construction schedules as well as explore opportunities to expand U.S. shipbuilding capacity in support of national security.

In early October, executives and technical staff from HHI’s Naval & Special Ship Business Unit visited HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding yard in Mississippi to strengthen the collaboration and to support future shipbuilding initiatives.

In September, HHI began a regular overhaul of the 41,000-ton fleet dry cargo and ammunition ship, USNS Alan Shepard, assigned to the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, further strengthening cooperation between HHI and the United States in the shipbuilding sector.

Helping Trump revive U.S. shipbuilding, South Korea has pledged to invest $150 billion in the sector, as part of $350 billion of investment funds the Asian country agreed to put into U.S. projects after winning U.S. tariff cuts in late July.

However, details of the broad tariff agreement between the two countries haven't been hammered out yet. Trump has said it was close to being finalised, while South Korean officials said the two sides were still far apart on key issues.

(Reuters and staff)