Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Kang Kyungsung attended the second K-Shipbuilding Super Gap Tech Alliance on July 2 at Panasia, an eco-friendly ship materials and equipment producer, where he announced the K-Shipbuilding Super Gap Vision 2040.

 

Over the past six months, the Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) of Korea’s three major shipyards have worked in tandem with roughly 100 experts in related academia, industries, and research institutions, to establish the public-private joint roadmap for shipbuilding industry’s technological development, namely the K-Shipbuilding Super Gap Vision (“the roadmap”).

 

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) selected 100 core technologies (351 subtechnologies) considered essential for Korea’s shipbuilding industry to secure and develop in green, digital, and smart areas.

 

First, for eco-friendly, the roadmap aims to develop eco-friendly fuel propulsion, materials and equipment for green innovation, and offshore hydrogen and ammonia plant technologies with the goal of completing the zero-carbon emission shipyard technology portfolio by 2040. Moreover, focus will go towards securing foundational technologies for LNG carrier cargo, large-sized electric propulsion ships, and offshore demonstrations.

 

Second, for digital, MOTIE aims to secure automation across all stages from design to production to shipyard management with the goal of reaching 50 percent process automation by 2040. Priority is on developing technologies for automating high-risk, high-difficulty tasks like welding and vessel painting automation, as well as cooperative robot technologies. In the mid-to-long term, the ministry plans to secure 24-hour automated ship block construction technology and push for the establishment of a testbed.

 

Lastly, MOTIE will secure smart technologies necessary for the commercialization of fully autonomous vessels, including those related to sensors, materials and equipment, and integrated management systems. Simultaneously, efforts will be made to secure safety technology for preparation against emergencies and technologies enabling human-robot collaboration in place of crew services.

 

In these three areas (green, digital, smart), MOTIE proposed 10 flagship projects for developing super gap technologies. Prospective projects include ammonia propulsion ships, liquid hydrogen carriers, carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems, self-navigation platforms, and autonomous manufacturing processes, which will receive support for innovative technology development, demonstration for securing track record, and standardization, so as to intensively nurture the shipbuilding industry as the next growth engine. To this end, a public-private joint team will invest a minimum of approximately USD 1.4 billion (2 tln won) over the next decade for accomplishing the 10 projects.

 

The Korean government and the three major domestic shipyards shared the understanding that it is imperative to resolve site issues to improve productivity, entering a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for developing several site response technologies in the following areas: collaborative robotic welding; virtual reality (VR) education system for welding and painting; artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot for foreign manpower site support; and shipyard-contractor joint production platform development.