South Korea’s top shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. has joined hands with Saudi Arabia’s national shipping company to develop cutting-edge smart ship technology as part of efforts to foster its smart ship business.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, also the world’s biggest shipbuilder, said on Monday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) on establishing a partnership in the smart ship sector.

Smart ship solution is a system that is applied to maximize a ship’s operational efficiency by using information and communication technology (ICT) and big data. The technology helps ship owners save maintenance costs as it can locate defects in various equipment and materials in a ship in operation in real time and also helps them maintain optimum ship operations by remotely checking fuel efficiency and gas emissions.

Hyundai Heavy Industries first introduced its smart ship service in 2011 and has applied the solution to about 300 ships so far. The world’s biggest shipbuilder, which has been grappled with dwindling orders for offshore plants amid a slump in oil prices in the last few years, has been going all out to restructure its business by expanding non-ship manufacturing business such as smart ship solution services.

Under the latest MoU with Bahri, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Bahri will jointly develop smart ship solutions and applying them to ships owned by the Saudi Arabian company. The Middle Eastern company currently operates 37 very large crude carriers (VLCC).

Hyundai Global Service that was spun off from Hyundai Heavy Industries in December last year will lead the development of smart ship technology that will allow ship owners remotely monitor and control a ship’s machinery status, such as of engines and generators, and informs repair status and period in advance.

The MoU signing ceremony - which took place in the Middle Eastern country on Sunday - was attended by Chung Ki-sun, senior executive director at Hyundai Heavy Industries; Ahn Kwang-hun, chief executive of Hyundai Global Service; and Ali Al Harbi, chief executive of Bahri.

By Moon Ji-woong

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