Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd.
"We Navigate Boldly Toward Limitless Oceans"
Korean shipbuilder (formerly DSME) that builds submarines and LNG carriers and designs the ROK Navy's reconnaissance UUV, mine-warfare USV and a 23 m XLUUV.
Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd. is one of South Korea's largest shipbuilders and naval contractors. It was known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) until Hanwha Group acquired it in 2023 and renamed it. The company dates its founding to 11 October 1973, when construction of the Okpo shipyard began, and the yard was completed in 1981. The headquarters and main yard are at 3370 Geoje-daero, Geoje-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, and the company also has Seoul offices on Cheonggyecheon-ro and Samil-daero. The company profile cites a yard area of about 4.9 million square metres and about 35,000 people. The CEO is Kim Hee-cheol.
Hanwha Ocean has five business areas. Commercial ships include LNG carriers, LPG carriers, oil tankers and container ships. The offshore business covers drillships and rigs, FLNG and FPSO production units, fixed platforms and wind-turbine installation vessels. Special ships include destroyers, frigates and submarines, and there are also wind power and plant businesses. On the naval side it has a long submarine record. It built Korea's first domestically built 1,200-ton submarine, Ichon, in 1992, and launched the 3,000-ton Dosan Ahn Changho in 2018 and Ahn Mu in 2020. In 2025 it launched Jang Yeong-sil, the lead ship of Jang Bogo-III Batch-II. It also exports submarines and delivered the Indonesian Navy's Nagapasa in 2017.
Hanwha Ocean has a growing defence marine-robotics business that builds on its submarine and naval design work. Its website presents an Unmanned Maritime System that uses swarm control, autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance for coastal and underwater surveillance, search and marine-environment survey, for both military and civilian missions. In 2021 it named HAN-V, an autonomous-navigation test vessel. In 2023 the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) chose it as preferred bidder to prototype a multi-purpose modular hydrogen fuel-cell energy system for unmanned submersibles, intended for the Navy's planned large modular unmanned submersible.
At MADEX 2023 in Busan, Hanwha Ocean unveiled a combat extra-large UUV (XLUUV) design about 23 m long and displacing about 60 tonnes. It uses lithium-ion batteries and air-independent propulsion carried over from the KSS-III Batch-II programme, and has two torpedo tubes, conformal sonar arrays and an X-rudder. The design followed a concept-study contract from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and supports the ROK Navy's Navy Sea GHOST manned-unmanned teaming concept. In April 2024 Hanwha Ocean, in a consortium with sister company Hanwha Systems, was named preferred bidder for conceptual design of the Navy's reconnaissance UUV and mine-warfare USV. The UUV is meant for covert, persistent surveillance, and the USV for peacetime survey and wartime mine detection and sweeping. Hanwha Ocean said it had also begun Korea's first large-USV design project. At MADEX 2025 the company showed 17 types of next-generation unmanned ships, surface ships and submarines, including a combat UUV. Hanwha Systems presented the 20 m combat USV at the same show and said it used Hanwha Ocean technology.
Hanwha Ocean is listed on the Korea Exchange (KRX: 042660). It is controlled by Hanwha Group, and Hanwha Aerospace raised its stake to about 30 percent in 2025 and now consolidates Hanwha Ocean as a subsidiary.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
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Contact Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd.
WEBSITE
https://www.hanwhaocean.com/PHONE
+82 55 735 2114HEADQUARTERS
Korea, Republic of (South)
Company Facts
Founded
1973
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Asia-Pacific
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
Subsidiary / Acquired
Funding Total
-
