Samsung Heavy Industries Seeks Broader Cooperation With U.S. Shipbuilding Industry

According to Yonhap, Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said it will pursue wider cooperation with the U.S. shipbuilding industry as South Korea and the United States opened a shipbuilding cooperation center in Washington to support a planned $150 billion investment in the U.S. shipbuilding sector under a trade and investment deal reached last year. Senior officials and industry leaders from both countries attended the Thursday opening of the Korea-U.S. Shipbuilding Partnership Center, which is intended to advance the "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA)" initiative. Samsung Heavy Industries CEO Choi Sung-an said the launch marked a new milestone for Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation and that the company would try to help drive a revival in the shipbuilding and marine industries of both countries. The company also said it and Conrad Shipyard won approval in principle from the American Bureau of Shipping for the basic design of a 12,000-cubic-meter LNG bunkering vessel they are developing together, signed a strategic business cooperation deal with U.S. autonomous vessel startup Saronic Technologies, and agreed with maintenance partner Vigor Marine Group to set up a training center in northwestern U.S. to help secure welders and painters for shipbuilding and repair work.