HII and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) have entered into a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to enhance the ongoing shipbuilding dialogue between the US and the Republic of Korea (RoK).
The agreement was signed at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2025 forum on 26 October 2025 in the presence of HII maritime systems and corporate strategy executive vice president Eric Chewning and HHI naval and special ship business unit president, Joo Won-ho.
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The MoA builds upon earlier collaboration between HII and HHI.
It addresses four priority areas. These include expanding the US shipbuilding industrial capacity through joint investment and pursuing strategic teaming for Navy auxiliary shipbuilding programmes.
The companies will also share knowledge in engineering and technology including AI, robotics, and automation, and reinforce lifecycle support for US Navy ships operating in the Indo-Pacific region.
Eric Chewning said: “This marks the beginning of deeper collaboration between not only our companies, but each of our countries, that will support enduring changes to military and commercial shipbuilding in America.
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By GlobalData“We look forward to working collaboratively with HHI, the US and South Korean governments, and with our customers to transform the US shipbuilding industrial base and enable accelerated throughput in our shipyards.”
Earlier in October 2025, HII and HHI signed an agreement to jointly pursue the US Navy’s next-generation logistics ship (NGLS) design contract.
The move follows a recent request for proposal issued by the US Navy for the concept design phase of the NGLS programme.
The companies plan to combine HII’s experience in complex vessel construction with HHI’s design expertise demonstrated through projects for the Royal New Zealand Navy and RoK Navy.
Joo Won-ho said: “We are confident that this partnership will generate powerful synergies by combining Korea’s cutting-edge shipbuilding technologies with the US defence sector’s strong market competitiveness.”
In April 2025, HHI established another MoU with HII to share operational practices intended to improve cost control and accelerate construction schedules.
That agreement also addressed expansion opportunities for US shipbuilding capacity in support of national security objectives.
In connection with these initiatives, senior executives and technical staff from HHI’s naval and special ship business unit visited HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding yard in Mississippi in October to assess collaborative approaches for ongoing and future projects.
In September, HHI began regular overhaul work on the USNS Alan Shepard, a 41,000t fleet dry cargo and ammunition ship assigned to the US Navy’s 7th Fleet.
