US Navy and Marine logistics chiefs inspect HD Hyundai's Ulsan yard and discuss a third ship repair job

Senior US Navy and Marine Corps officials responsible for installations and logistics visited HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' shipyard in Ulsan on 4 November 2026 to assess South Korea's ability to build and support naval vessels, South Korean media reported on 7 and 8 November. The group included Brendan Rogers, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment, and Lt Gen Andrew Niebel, the Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Installations and Logistics, along with the commander of US Marine Corps Forces Korea.

Yonhap reported, citing the US Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, that the delegation toured the yard and received briefings on the company's current state and technology. It was received by Joo Won-ho, the president of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries who leads its naval and medium ship business. According to the US Defense Department material cited by Yonhap and the Hankook Ilbo, the visit was meant to evaluate naval shipbuilding capacity, military infrastructure and logistics support across South Korea. The officials also met military leaders, facilities staff and defence industry representatives to look at ways to improve maritime sustainment and readiness and to strengthen the alliance.

SBS, which first reported the visit, said the delegation discussed maintenance, repair and overhaul work for a specific US Navy ship. A South Korean government official told the broadcaster that the Ulsan yard is already carrying out such work on two US Navy vessels and that the Rogers delegation held detailed talks with the company about a third. SBS noted that Hanwha Ocean has also done repair work on US ships, and it described the two officials as the working-level leads for US Navy and Marine Corps ship construction.

The discussions reportedly went beyond repairs to MASGA, the South Korea-US shipbuilding cooperation project under which South Korean builders would expand into the United States and build vessels there. The same official told SBS that the project would need HD Hyundai to set up its own shipyard in the United States, following Hanwha Ocean's Philly Shipyard, and that the delegation looked over the Ulsan yard with that goal in mind.

The Hankook Ilbo called a visit by a senior US Navy official to a South Korean shipyard unusual. The newspaper noted that US law currently bars building American naval ships abroad, but that President Donald Trump signed a memorandum in August allowing foreign shipbuilders that have invested in the United States to build two US Navy ships outside the country. It also reported that the delegation discussed concrete steps for MASGA during the trip.

The visit follows US midterm elections in which, according to the Hankook Ilbo, the Democratic Party won majorities in both the House and the Senate. The paper reported concern that Congress could rein in administration policies, including building US combatants overseas, which the National Defense Authorization Act restricts, by blocking funding if the White House tried to bypass lawmakers by executive order. It also cited a Korea Institute for Defense Analyses researcher who argued that ship repair work and MASGA are essentially investments and that Democrats are likely to cooperate given the deep slump in US shipbuilding.

HD Hyundai's repair work for the US Navy is already under way. In January the company said it had won a contract for a scheduled overhaul of USNS Cesar Chavez, a 41,000-ton dry cargo and ammunition ship serving with the US 7th Fleet, at a quay near its Ulsan naval and medium ship unit, Chosunbiz reported. That followed its first US Navy job, on the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Alan Shepard, and in both cases an initial list of about 60 work items grew to more than 100.

Yonhap said the Defense Department also released photos of Rogers and Niebel at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek during the same trip. The reports did not name the third vessel under discussion or say whether a contract had been agreed.