HD Hyundai has begun reviewing the establishment of a new shipyard in India after signing a strategic and comprehensive partnership with the Tamil Nadu state government.

The announcement was made on Sunday, 7 December, following a ceremony held in Madurai in southern India. The event was attended by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, State Industries Minister T.R.B. Rajaa, and Choi Hannae, Head of Corporate Planning at HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering.

The move supports India’s ‘Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047’, a long-term plan to make the country one of the world’s top five in shipbuilding and shipping. As part of this plan, authorities are looking to expand existing shipyards and build new ones.

Officials have shortlisted five states, including Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, as potential locations for the new shipyard. Tamil Nadu has made the project a key economic priority and has been working to attract investment by offering incentives, improving local infrastructure and focusing on talent development. These efforts led to the state selecting HD Hyundai as its project partner for the proposed shipyard.

Among the candidate locations, the Thoothukudi region in Tamil Nadu is being regarded as a strong contender. The area has climate conditions similar to Ulsan in South Korea, where HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is based.

It already hosts well-known Korean companies such as Hyundai Motor Company and Samsung Electronics, and additional large-scale investments are expected at nearby port facilities. These factors have raised expectations for industrial growth in the region.

HD Hyundai has been steadily increasing its engagement with India’s maritime and industrial sectors. Earlier this month, the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BEML (Bharat Earth Movers Limited), a state-owned firm under the Indian Ministry of Defence, to collaborate on maritime and port crane development.

Based in Bengaluru, BEML operates across defence and aerospace equipment, mining and construction machinery, and railway and metro systems, with several manufacturing bases in southern India, including Bengaluru and Kolar.

Under the agreement, both companies plan to cooperate across the crane manufacturing process, including design, production and quality assurance. The aim is to gradually build port crane manufacturing capability within India. HD Hyundai also intends to expand its business by supplying goliath and jib cranes to domestic shipyards.

The company’s involvement in the crane sector has already been growing. In February, HD Hyundai Samho delivered a 600-tonne goliath crane to Cochin Shipyard, India’s largest state-owned shipbuilder.

In August, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, the shipbuilding division’s intermediary holding company, announced it would acquire HD Hyundai Eco Vina from Doosan Enerbility to strengthen its crane-related portfolio.

HD Hyundai has already been working closely with Indian shipyards this year. In July, the company signed an MoU with Cochin Shipyard to collaborate on areas such as design support, procurement, productivity improvement and human capital development.

Reference: HD Hyundai