After six months of repair work on the USNS Wally Schirra on the South Korean island of Geoje, SK Song was ready to hand the 210-metre cargo and ammunition vessel back to the US Navy.
“There was so much rust it was almost like a ghost ship,” said Song, who manages shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean’s naval maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) team at its 5mn square metres shipyard. “It had 15 years left of life, but now it has another 30.”
Two MRO contracts secured by Hanwha Ocean last year mark the first time a South Korean shipyard has conducted such work for the US Navy, illustrating growing recognition in Washington of the need to harness its Asian allies’ shipbuilding expertise to keep pace with China’s naval build-up.
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