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How are South Korean and Japanese shipbuilders using robots to address labor shortages, aging workforces, long order backlogs and competition from China; what do China’s share of new orders and South Korea’s and Japan’s share of vessel output show about that competition; what hav
South Korean and Japanese shipbuilders are putting robots into welding, painting and other repetitive or hazardous work to stretch scarce skilled labour, keep production moving through long backlogs and compete with lower cost Chinese yards The ambition is a more continuously operating “smart shipyard,” not a proven...
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Key takeaways
- South Korean and Japanese shipbuilders are putting robots into welding, painting and other repetitive or hazardous work to stretch scarce skilled labour, keep production moving through long backlogs and compete with lower cost Chinese yards
- The ambition is a more continuously operating “smart shipyard,” not a proven replacement for skilled crews.
- [6][12][13] Scale of the competition: Chinese yards took 63% of global new ship orders last year , according to Clarksons figures cited in the reporting.
- That is a measure of orders , not vessels produced.
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South Korean and Japanese shipbuilders are putting robots into welding, painting and other repetitive or hazardous work to stretch scarce skilled labour, keep production moving through long backlogs and compete with lower-cost Chinese yards. The ambition is a more continuously operating “smart shipyard,” not a proven replacement for skilled crews. 6
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Scale of the competition: Chinese yards took 63% of global new ship orders last year, according to Clarksons figures cited in the reporting. That is a measure of orders, not vessels produced. The available evidence does not establish reliable separate shares of vessel output for South Korea and Japan, so I cannot give those figures or directly compare them with China’s order share.
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HD Hyundai: Its yards are using robotic welding and pursuing AI-guided, multifunctional machines. At HD Hyundai Samho, a reported robot can complete up to 50 welding cells a day, versus 30 for a skilled worker—about 67% more in that particular task, not a 67% gain in whole-ship productivity. HD Hyundai is also pursuing AI, data and digital-twin tools for more automated production.
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Hanwha Ocean: At its Geoje yard, AI and robotics assist with about 67% of indoor welding; its stated 2030 goals are full automation of the specified welding process and 50% automation of surface preparation and painting. Those are targets, not achieved yard-wide automation.
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Fanuc and Japanese yards: Fanuc has developed two shipbuilding-specific robots for welding and painting. It has described an ambition to deploy robots on the scale of Japan’s roughly 75,000 shipbuilding workers, enabling more overnight work; that is an aspiration, not a reported deployment or verified productivity gain.
What could slow adoption: Ship designs vary, and cramped, irregular workspaces are much harder to automate than standard factory lines; experienced workers remain essential. Equipment and integration costs may also constrain rollouts, but the available evidence does not support a dependable cost figure. Workers’ job-security concerns are concrete: South Korea’s metalworkers’ union has raised them as companies adopt AI and robots.
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South Korean and Japanese shipbuilders are putting robots into welding, painting and other repetitive or hazardous work to stretch scarce skilled labour, keep production moving through long backlogs and compete with lower cost Chinese yards
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South Korean and Japanese shipbuilders are putting robots into welding, painting and other repetitive or hazardous work to stretch scarce skilled labour, keep production moving through long backlogs and compete with lower cost Chinese yards The ambition is a more continuously operating “smart shipyard,” not a proven replacement for skilled crews.
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[6][12][13] Scale of the competition: Chinese yards took 63% of global new ship orders last year , according to Clarksons figures cited in the reporting.