US Navy’s vessel enters Hanwha Ocean’s shipyard in Korea for overhaul

A 40,000-ton logistics support vessel of the U.S. Navy, Wally Schirra, has entered Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard in South Korea for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, marking a new era of defense cooperation between Korea and the U.S.

According to Hanwha, the ship, which delivers supplies such as ammunition, food, repair parts and fuel to other ships at sea, arrived at Geoje shipyard on September 2, 2024, in the afternoon.

Wally Schirra has a displacement of approximately 40,000 tons, a total length of 210 meters and a total width of 32.2 meters. It is scheduled to be delivered to the U.S. Navy after undergoing approximately three months of ship maintenance work.

To note, the U.S. has been actively reviewing the plan to entrust ship MRO work to allied countries. Accordingly, Hanwha Ocean obtained the master ship repair agreement (MSRA) based on its ship technology and maintenance-related infrastructure and secured the contract for the Wally Schirra vessel.

An undisclosed Hanwha Ocean official noted: “We have become the first domestic shipyard to conduct an MRO project for a US Navy ship. We will continue the reputation of K-Defense through timely delivery based on the world’s best MRO-related technology.”

In addition to the U.S. MRO project, Hanwha Ocean is currently preparing depot maintenance and performance improvement projects centered on Hanwha Ocean-built export ships in countries such as Indonesia and Thailand.