The Korean shipbuilding industry, going through a severe labor shortage, is expanding its use of robots at shipyards. Korean shipbuilders are actively developing robots as a tool to boost competitiveness, as they believe that robots can increase their productivity and prevent accidents at workplaces.
According to industry sources on Oct. 5, Samsung Heavy Industries recently developed a high-speed laser welding robot for manufacturing cargo holds for LNG carriers. Compared to conventional plasma arc welding (PAW), welding by the new welding robot is up to five times faster; it is expected to elevate the efficiency of LNG carrier construction.
As it has become increasingly difficult to secure skilled welders, Samsung Heavy Industries has been developing high-speed welding robots since 2021, while regarding robotic welders as an alternative.
HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering and Hanwha Ocean are also actively utilizing robotic welders. HD HHI became the first in the shipbuilding industry to introduce a collaborative robot for a major assembly process in 2018. Since then, through continuous improvement, it has been using robots for welding in all directions, including horizontal, vertical, and turning welding. Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries has introduced a number of additional welding robots this year, increasing its welding robots to 40-plus units.
Earlier this year, Hanwha Ocean developed a collaborative robot to weld piping adjustment pipes on ships and deployed it to welding workplaces. The robot has undergone dozens of modifications since 2019 when the company was facing business difficulties. Workers can perform precise work with the robot without any safety fences or safety sensors. Hanwha Ocean believes that the welding robot will reduce job preparation time by 60 percent.
Apart from welding, Korean shipbuilders are using robots throughout the shipbuilding process. Work efficiency can rise thanks to underwater hull cleaning robots that clean the lower part of the hull of a ship submerged in water, wire laying robots that automatically install wires, and curved molding robots that automatically mold curved outer parts of ships.
The use of robots in the shipbuilding process is expected to expand in the future. This is because a long-term recession in the shipbuilding industry has led to a sharp decline in the number of shipbuilding workers, making it difficult to secure laborers. In fact, the number of ships scheduled to be delivered in 2024 and 2025 is similar to that of 2014 and 2015, but the size of shipbuilders’ construction workforce is only 100,000, which is half of the 200,000 employed in 2014 and 2015. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy also forecast that there will be a shortage of about 14,000 workers by the end of this year, given Korean shipbuilders’ recent backlog of orders.
Since last year, the Serious Accident Punishment Act has been in effect, so shipbuilders are aiming to minimize safety accidents by using robots instead of humans for dangerous tasks.