As the United States, Japan, and South Korea increase their security cooperation, shipbuilding as well as ship repair and maintenance are priority areas. In both Japan-U.S. and South Korea-U.S. and relations, ship maintenance and repairs are a growing but already established area of cooperation while shipbuilding is newer. Though there is an emphasis on what can be done trilaterally, Japan’s domestic political constraints and South Korea’s more mature defense industrial base likely means that Seoul will find ways to cooperate with Washington faster than Tokyo, unless Japan musters the political will to prioritize this issue – either bilaterally or trilaterally.
In his first trip abroad since becoming U.S. secretary of the navy, John Phelan visited Japan to discuss joint ship repair and shipbuilding ventures. “One of my main priorities is readiness, and so being able to repair ships here obviously improves readiness,” he said. Shipbuilding with the United States is a potential next step, but as Phelan recognized, “We have constraints when it comes to what we can and can’t do with shipbuilding [in Japan].” The U.S. navy secretary’s time in Japan included meetings with top Japanese defense officials, including Defense Minister Nakatani Gen, and a tour of Japan Marine United’s Isogo Works shipyard in Yokohama.
Phelan’s first trip abroad also included a stop in South Korea, where he met with acting Prime Minister Han Duck-soo (who has since resigned) and Adm. Yang Yong-mo. Phelan visited Hanhwa Ocean Shipbuilding and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries. Phelan reiterated the link between ship repair and force readiness. “Leveraging the expertise of these highly capable [local] shipyards enables timely maintenance and repairs for our vessels to operate at peak performance,” he said.
Phelan also encouraged greater Japanese and South Korean investment in U.S. shipyards, especially along the West Coast. Phelan encouraged Japan to consider investing in U.S.-based joint ventures and raised the example of South Korea’s Hanhwa Ocean acquiring the Philly Shipyard in a $100 million deal as a possible model that Japan could emulate. Hyundai Heavy Industries and Huntington Ingalls recently signed a memorandum of understanding to explore joint efforts in accelerating defense and commercial ship production.
When it comes to ship repair and maintenance, Japan and South Korea both recently notched major accomplishments. On March 12, South Korea’s shipyard, Hanhwa Ocean, completed a seven-month overhaul of USNS Wally Schirra, the first Military Sealift Command vessel to be repaired in South Korea. This was a “landmark achievement” for South Korea. Hanhwa is also performing maintenance on USNS Yukon, a replenishment oil tanker.
On April 15, Japan’s shipyard, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, completed a five-month overhaul of USS Miguel Keith, an expeditionary mobile base. This was the first time a Japanese shipyard had bid on and won a contract of this scale from the U.S. Navy.
Using Japanese and South Korean shipyards for such major repairs allows the United States to focus on other maintenance work and increases its operational readiness. A major benefit is that the U.S. Navy vessels can stay in their assigned areas and therefore, be available for longer – up until immediately before overhaul work begins and immediately after it ends.
A recent Center for Strategic and International Studies report highlighted the challenges posed by China’s dual-use shipbuilding. According to their analysis, China dominates 50 percent of the global shipbuilding market, while South Korea holds about 29 percent and Japan about 13 percent. The United States holds 0.1 percent.
During his confirmation hearing, Phelan had emphasized the need to learn from foreign allies and rebuild U.S. shipbuilding infrastructure. Japan and South Korea are not only critical U.S. allies, they are also leading shipbuilding nations.
Various outlets reported that Phelan, in a Nikkei Asia interview, has proposed a new partnership with Japan focused on dual-use shipping. However, he later clarified to Stars and Stripes that it had not been a concrete proposal; instead, he said he had been offering his observation that the United States needed to also be thinking about the challenge from the commercial ship building side.