Marine Industry 4.0

In order to increase the speed and quality of port logistics while also reducing carbon emissions through clean energy solutions, the Korean government announced a KRW 43 trillion (£29.1 billion) project to develop 12 smart ports by 2040. The government will introduce automation and 5G connectivity into the country’s five largest ports, starting with Busan in the south, before expanding it to seven other ports in the coming years.

Korean President Moon Jae-in announced his Energy 3020 policy in 2017, which aims to generate 20% of energy nationwide from new and renewable sources by 2030. The plan outlined a 12GW target for offshore wind power and a separate target of 1.2GW has recently been set by the government for other marine energy solutions such as wind and tidal energy. Offshore wind is still a fledgling industry in Korea, but the government’s target of 12GW by 2030 could drive the growth of a substantial market on par with leading European markets such as the UK.

As the Korean marine industry develops and evolves, opportunities for British service providers are likely to open up. Korea is the seventh-largest insurance market globally and international firms have a small but growing market share. In addition, specialised engineering and consulting services in the marine sector are in demand and growth in this area is expected to continue into the future.

The marine industry is of key strategic importance to Korea, but the country lags behind its regional rivals, China and Japan, in the development of smart ships and smart ports. Korea is keen to cooperate with companies with relevant commercialised technologies in the marine industry and, as the UK is known to be strong across the board in the marine industries, British companies with strong offerings will find a warm reception from Korean firms.

Opportunity Areas for UK Companies

Local shipbuilders and R&D institutes are already conducting large-scale R&D projects on smart and autonomous ships. Most of the technological cooperation is taking place involving only domestic players. However, there is a growing interest among shipbuilders in cooperating with foreign companies, particularly UK companies, that can offer solutions for AI-based navigation, accident prediction, remote performance monitoring and diagnosis systems, fuel optimisation, emissions control, high-speed wireless communication, data sharing and processing technologies.

Smart ports are at an early stage of development in Korea, with the rollout of its first smart port project in Busan and a view to expanding to 11 other ports across the country. Local port authorities and systems integrators cite demand for IoT-based warehouse logistics and inventory management, automatic loading, dispatching and transporting solutions, port traffic optimisation technologies as well as eco-friendly energy solutions such as hydrogen refuelling stations and fuel cell power generation technologies.

The Korean energy sector is on the verge of a major change as the country is seeking to achieve 65GW installed capacity of renewable energy including offshore wind, tidal and wave power by 2030. However, there is a significant technological gap between Korea and countries with advanced technologies and expertise in this area such as the UK. This creates opportunities for UK companies with solutions like optimal offshore wind site determination technologies, efficient tidal and wave power generators and turbines, technologies for evaluation and prediction of environmental changes, efficient OTEC technologies, project development expertise, etc.

Korea has a well-developed service sector in the ship design, construction supervision, technical and management consultancy, marine insurance, and ship financing fields. UK companies can find opportunities in R&D services related to marine engineering as well as the marine insurance sector. Korean insurance companies are increasingly seeking collaboration with their UK counterparts, while the presence of international firms in the Korean insurance market continues to grow, pointing to the appeal of the market for international insurers.