The United States is making big plans to revive the domestic shipbuilding sector, and it’s reaching out to an ally for help.
The U.S. Department of Commerce and the South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing the Korea-U.S. Shipbuilding Partnership Initiative (KUSPI).
The new platform strengthens bilateral cooperation in commercial shipbuilding, workforce development, industrial modernization, and maritime manufacturing investment, the International Trade Administration said in a release.
The initiative establishes the Korea-U.S. Shipbuilding Partnership Center, staffed and funded by Seoul, to be opened later this year in Washington. It will support expanded collaboration between government, industry, and research institutions from both countries, and include facilitating foreign direct investment in the U.S. maritime industrial base, workforce training initiatives, shipyard productivity improvement projects, and technical exchanges.
The Trump administration earlier this year released a Maritime Action Plan to revitalize domestic shipbuilding. South Korea is the world’s second-largest builder of commercial vessels after China; Seoul-based industrial giant Hanwha (000880.KS) currently operates a shipyard in Philadelphia.
Commerce, under the agreement, will help facilitate the center’s interactions with U.S. shipbuilding companies, suppliers, universities, and research institutes and act as its federal government-wide point of contact. Seoul will coordinate cooperation across its government and other shipbuilding stakeholders.
The ITA said that the signing builds on ongoing U.S.-Korea cooperation in strategic industries and reflects continued efforts to strengthen allied industrial capacity, promote investment, and expand collaboration in advanced manufacturing sectors.
Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
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