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Korea's HJ Shipbuilding wins MRO contract for U.S. Navy vessel

Published: 15 Dec. 2025, 16:43

The 40,000-ton USNS Amelia Earhart vessel [U.S. NAVY, HJ SHIPBUILDING & CONSTRUCTION CO.]

HJ Shipbuilding & Construction, a mid-sized Korean shipbuilder, said Monday it has secured a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) contract for a U.S. Navy logistics vessel.

The company said it signed the MRO contract with the U.S. Navy for the 40,000-ton USNS Amelia Earhart. The 210-meter-long (697-foot-long) vessel supplies up to 6,000 tons of ammunition, food and cargo, as well as 2,400 tons of fuel, to U.S. aircraft carriers and other warships.

The contract marks the latest in the growing cooperation in the shipbuilding sector between Korea and the United States, as seen in the Seoul-Washington initiative to revive the U.S. shipbuilding industry under the slogan "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again."

HJ Shipbuilding, designated in 1974 as Korea's first naval defense contractor, has built or serviced more than 1,200 naval and logistics vessels.

Senior U.S. officials, including the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea, recently visited the company's Busan shipyard and gave favorable assessments of the company's facilities.

The company will begin work on the vessel in January at its Yeongdo shipyard in Busan, carrying out inspections, repairs, component replacements and painting before delivering the vessel to the U.S. Navy at the end of March.

"We are proud that this contract recognizes our capabilities, technical expertise and execution capacity in MRO operations," said HJ Shipbuilding CEO Yoo Sang-cheol.

Yonhap