Hanwha Ocean announced that it has been selected as the preferred bidder for the Royal Thai Navy’s 4,000-ton-class frigate project. The project, valued at 167.3 billion baht (approximately 683.3 billion won / approximately $509 million), includes the construction of one frigate as well as technical training related to its operation and maintenance.
Including the one frigate for which Hanwha Ocean has secured the contract, Thailand plans to procure up to four new frigates. Having secured the contract for the first vessel, Hanwha Ocean is expected to be in a favorable position for subsequent projects with a total value exceeding 3 trillion won (approximately $2.163 billion).
It is worth noting that this frigate project marks the first overseas defense shipbuilding contract secured by Hanwha Ocean since its establishment in 2023. A total of six shipbuilding and defense companies from four countries submitted bids for the project, including South Korean shipbuilders Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Singapore’s ST Engineering, Turkey’s ASFAT and TAIS, and Spain’s Navantia.
During the bidding process, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries—another South Korean shipbuilder—proposed a local content ratio of approximately 40 percent but was still unable to secure the contract.
Hanwha Ocean stated that its success in winning the bid for Thailand’s new frigate project was due to its proven track record of successful deliveries. During the bidding process, Hanwha Ocean submitted a proposal for the Ocean-40F-class frigate, which is an upgraded version of the 3,700-ton “Phumiphon Adunyadet”-class frigates that Hanwha Ocean’s predecessor, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), built and delivered to the Royal Thai Navy.
In 2013, DSME won the contract for Thailand’s “Phumiphon Adunyadet”-class frigate project, and the vessel was successfully delivered in 2018. Hanwha Ocean believes that the frigate’s performance during its service and the trust built as a result were key factors in Hanwha Ocean winning another Thai frigate project eight years later.
The South Korean shipbuilding industry views Hanwha Ocean’s successful bid for the Thai frigate project as a crucial stepping stone for the company to expand its overseas specialty vessel business. In 2023, when Hanwha Group acquired Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and renamed it Hanwha Ocean, it announced a 2 trillion won capital increase plan, of which 900 billion won would be invested in the specialty vessel sector.
Hanwha Ocean allocated these funds to expand its domestic shipbuilding capacity in South Korea while securing overseas production bases and MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) capabilities. For example, Hanwha Ocean completed the acquisition of the Philly Shipyard by the end of 2024, renaming it Hanwha Philly Shipyard, and has since been awarded multiple MRO contracts for U.S. Navy logistics support ships.