Philly Shipyard: Hanwha Defense USA takes control of the Philadelphia shipyard to build ships for the US Navy

The Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia is coming under the control of Hanwha Defense USA (HDUSA), the American arm of South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace. The company announced on Tuesday, October 27, from Arlington, Virginia, that it is acquiring a controlling stake in Hanwha Philly Shipyard, which will be placed within its own management structure. The goal is clear: for the historic shipyard to build ships for the US Navy, for other federal agencies and for commercial customers.

The move closes a reshuffle within the group. Since December 2024, when Hanwha bought the yard, 60% was owned by Hanwha Systems and the other 40% by Hanwha Ocean. In September Hanwha Systems announced it would sell its stake to Hanwha Defense USA Shipbuilding LLC, a joint venture led by HDUSA with Hanwha FutureProof as partner. Earlier this year HDUSA had already moved into the shipyard to prepare it as a dual-use facility.

All of the company’s shipbuilding activities in the United States will be under Tom Anderson, president of HDUSA’s shipbuilding division and a retired US Navy rear admiral. “Over the last two years Hanwha has made significant investments in Philly Shipyard, helping to revitalise American shipbuilding,” he said. As he explained, the yard’s operations, workforce and customer relationships are now being aligned so that it can build for the Navy and other agencies.

HDUSA president and CEO Michael Coulter stressed the convergence of government and commercial shipbuilding. “By bringing Philly Shipyard under HDUSA, we are further aligning our government and commercial shipbuilding activities,” he said, adding that the company will continue to invest in the facilities and the workforce “in view of the exciting work ahead”.

The first step toward the Navy came in March, when HDUSA and the shipyard won their first contract as subcontractors to Vard Marine US on the Navy’s next-generation logistics ship programme, the NGLS (the T-AOL light replenishment oiler), for market research and concept design. At the time Hanwha reported investments of more than $200 million in the yard since December 2024. On September 9 the yard was visited by the acting Secretary of the Navy, Hung Cao, when management said its workforce had more than doubled since 2024 and is approaching 2,500.

Hanwha Philly Shipyard covers 115 acres (about 465 thousand square metres) at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, inside the historic Philadelphia Navy Yard. It has built about half of the large ocean-going Jones Act ships delivered to the US since 2000 and has two of the largest dry docks on the East Coast. It has delivered four National Security Multi-Mission Vessels to the US Maritime Administration (MARAD), and the fifth is expected in 2027.

Hanwha is not the only South Korean group turning to American shipyards, as HD Hyundai is planning a new US shipyard with Kiewit for Navy auxiliary ships. Hanwha also has a Greek interest, through its agreement with Greece’s ONEX. Korean submarine proposals for Greece were analysed in KSS-III: the Korean submarine with vertical launch cells.