South Korea’s shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean announced that it will invest a total of $1.3 billion over the next three years to improve the safety of its shipyard operations. It comes as the company was facing mounting pressure from the government which has a very strict safety program and unions which accused the company of being lax on safety protocols.
The Hanwha Group acquired management and control of the shipbuilding operations of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) completing the deal with the state-run banks in May 2023. The operation reported its first fatal accident in January 2024 under the new management and since then it has been under increasing scrutiny. Korean media reports the government was considering summoning management to report before the National Assembly after a series of incidents at the yard.
The first incident in January involved a…
