South Korea Targets Daebul FTZ for 400 Billion-Won AI Shipyard

FTZ News: Industry and oceans officials met in Mokpo on October 12 to expand an existing autonomous-ship group into a wider shipbuilding alliance. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries released the account of the meeting, held at Hotel Hyundai by Lahan Mokpo. Roughly 200 people from yards, suppliers and research groups attended. Industry Minister Kim Jeong-gwan and Oceans Minister Hwang Jong-woo spoke.

The Autonomous Vessel M.AX Alliance, running since late 2025, had focused on navigation data and standards. Officials said its scope would now also cover factory floors. Large yards already use some monitoring tools. Many smaller builders and equipment firms still do most work by hand. The three flagship projects they outlined total about 1.4 trillion won in public and private money over five years.

In Mokpo and Yeongam, 596 billion won is set for an AI shipyard plant that handles mid- and large-block assembly, with methods to be shared with nine suppliers. HD Hyundai Samho and Daea Industries signed an agreement that day to put 400 billion won into a demonstration facility inside the Daebul Free Trade Zone. The government has marked 160 billion won for research by the large firms and 36 billion for equipment at partners. In Geoje and Busan, 500 billion won goes toward outfitting work and a shared design platform so equipment makers can take standardized drawings and load them into automated production equipment. Samsung Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean are the main yards. Busan holds about 60 percent of the country’s equipment companies. In Gunsan, 310 billion won is for small-block assembly methods and some rebuilding of local capacity after newbuilding largely stopped in 2017. J Ocean Heavy Industries, which recently took the yard, is the lead firm. The government set aside 110 billion won there, including for a private 5G network to collect process data.

Officials also released the first basic plan for autonomous ships, running to 2035. It aims for fully autonomous vessels at IMO Level 4 by then and for Korea to lead in orders. They cited a projected global market of about 224.5 billion dollars. Kim Jeong-gwan said the shift is hard for an industry that has long relied on labor and that smaller firms need to move with the large ones. Hwang Jong-woo said the ministries would carry out the plan and push the manufacturing changes into both yards and shipping./.