The Wall Street Journal reports that Hanwha Group is considering expanding the Hanwha Philly Shipyard, which it acquired and renamed in late 2024, and is interested in acquiring additional domestic shipyards in the United States.
Reports indicate that Hanwha Group is currently in discussions with federal, state, and local government officials in the United States to secure additional production facilities and logistics/warehousing land for its Philadelphia site. These talks also include seeking access to idle or underutilized dry docks at other shipyards in the Philadelphia area.
Due to severe capacity shortages at Hanwha Philly Shipyard, Michael Coulter, the new CEO of Hanwha Defense USA, told The Wall Street Journal, “Hanwha needs more shipbuilding space… The two dry docks in Philadelphia we have now are probably not enough to meet our production needs.”
Michael Coulter also stated: “Should order volumes exceed our own production capacity, Hanwha is also considering utilizing other shipyards’ docks for shipbuilding… Hanwha is seriously considering acquiring a second shipyard in another region of the United States within the next few years.”
Hanwha Group has established a partnership with U.S. unmanned vessel software company Havoc AI and is actively pursuing a supply contract for unmanned surface vessels with the U.S. Navy. Recently, the Trump administration allocated over $3 billion in its defense budget for small and medium-sized unmanned vessel projects.
Additionally, Hanwha Philly Shipyard has been listed as a candidate shipyard for the proposed Korean nuclear-powered submarines under the Korea-U.S. leaders’ agreement. In response, Michael Coulter recently stated that Hanwha possesses full capability to build submarines at any location in the U.S. or Korea, with the final decision resting with the governments of both countries.