The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 8th (local time) that Hanwha is considering expanding the Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, United States, and acquiring additional shipyards in the country.

According to the shipbuilding industry and foreign media on the 9th, Hanwha is holding talks with federal, state, and local government officials to secure production facilities and land for logistics and storage in the Philadelphia area. The approach also includes securing access to unused docks (dock·shipbuilding facilities) or underutilized docks at shipyards in the Philadelphia area.

Michael Coulter, the new CEO of Hanwha Defense USA, told the WSJ, “We need more space (for shipbuilding).” He added, “It seems unlikely that we can meet manufacturing demand with only the two docks we currently have in Philadelphia.”

The Philly Shipyard that Hanwha acquired in Dec. 2024 was once the largest naval shipbuilding base on the U.S. East Coast. After the Cold War, as the U.S. shipbuilding industry declined, its production capacity fell to about one ship per year.

Coulter added, “If order volumes exceed our own production capacity, we are also considering building ships by using docks at other shipyards.” He also said, “We are seriously considering acquiring a second shipyard in another region in the United States within a few years,” adding, “This is a historically very special time.”

Hanwha has formed a partnership with Havoc AI, a U.S. unmanned vessel software company, and is seeking to win a supply contract for the U.S. Navy’s unmanned surface vessels. The Trump administration recently allocated more than $3 billion (about 4.4 trillion won) in defense budget for small and medium unmanned vessels.

The Philly Shipyard is also being mentioned as a candidate site to build Korea’s nuclear-powered submarine (nuclear sub) to be developed under the South Korea–U.S. leaders’ agreement. U.S. President Donald Trump designated the Philly Shipyard as the construction site in Oct. last year. On this, Coulter said that Hanwha has sufficient capability to build submarines anywhere in the United States or Korea, and that it will be left to the decision of the two governments.
Source: Chosunbiz