South Korean shipbuilding major Hanwha Ocean is putting some distance between itself and China, a nation very much in the crosshairs of the Donald Trump administration in the US.
Hanwha Ocean, formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, has announced it will dissolve an offshore joint venture its recently acquired Singapore yard, Dyna-Mac, operates with China Merchants.
The DM-CMHI Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) joint venture was established as an offshore-focused yard five years ago.
Since returning to power, Trump has spent plenty of time looking at ways to restrict China’s dominance in the shipbuilding sector, with new US port service fees on China-linked ships set to come into force later this year. Trump’s actions have been seen as a bonus in ongoing trade discussions between South Korea and the US.
Another Korean yard major could face pressure from the Trump administration over its links to China. Samsung Heavy Industries has been syphoning off more and more work to China, both to its own block manufacturer as well as to PaxOcean, a shipyard in Zhejiang province.
