HD Hyundai, Saudi Arabia step up shipbuilding ties under Vision 2030

Korea’s shipbuilding giant HD Hyundai announced on Thursday that Executive Vice Chair Chung Ki-sun met with Saudi Arabia’s Investment Minister Khalid Al Falih in Seoul to discuss deeper collaboration on the kingdom’s shipbuilding plans.

According to the company, the talks focused on the operation of shipbuilding and engine-making joint ventures now under construction in Saudi Arabia, as well as the establishment of a local parts supply chain to support production.

Sulaiman M. Ababtain, the CEO of Sofon Holding, a Saudi state-owned shipbuilding holding company overseeing the kingdom’s shipbuilding and maritime sector, and Joo Won-ho, head of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ special ship division, joined the meeting to discuss potential collaboration in the naval sector.

“Saudi Arabia is a trusted business partner with whom we have had long-standing cooperation,” said Chung. “The IMI Shipyard is a symbolic project that demonstrates how HD Hyundai has grown into a company exporting its design expertise in half a century. We will thus devote our utmost efforts to its operation to make it one of the best shipyards.”

The IMI Shipyard and Makeen engine plant are being built at Jubail Port in eastern Saudi Arabia in partnership between HD Hyundai and the Saudi government, as part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 initiative, which emphasizes the development of its maritime sector, including shipbuilding.

Equipped with three large-scale docks, four goliath cranes and seven berths, the shipyard is scheduled to begin operations in 2026 with an annual capacity of 40 vessels, HD Hyundai said.