HD KSOE Breaks Ground for Marine Engine Plant Construction in Saudi Arabia

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. has broken ground for the construction of a marine engine facility in Saudi Arabia. Once completed, the plant is set to start its commercial operations by the fourth quarter of the year 2025.

HD KSOE will build the marine engine plant, and this will open the way for the company to license-produce its own mid-size engine for the first time. As per Pulse News, the holding unit of HD Hyundai's shipbuilding business said on Sunday, June 15, that Makeen, its joint venture firm with Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Co. (Dussur) and Saudi Arabian Development Co. (SADCO) held a groundbreaking ceremony in Ras Al-Khair.

The new engine factory will soon rise on a 150,000 square meters land area located within the King Salman Global Maritime Industries Complex, which is close to Jubail City. In the Q4 of 2025, a full-scale production of marine engines will commence, and an annual yield capacity of 30 large marine engines in addition to 160 marine pumps and 235 medium engines are expected.

Korea Economic Daily further reported that with the project, HD KSOE is set to earn royalties for engine technologies from shipbuilders worldwide, and this is happening for the first time for the company. The plant will supply marine engines to foreign shipbuilders, including the International Maritime Industries (IMI), which is set to finish the construction of a shipyard that will be the largest in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the marine engine plants will purchase a huge amount of engine parts from South Korea. HD Hyundai Heavy's vice chairman, Han Young Seuk, said that HD KSOE would become a licensor with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' in-house technologies through the project; thus, the company will scale up the expansion to strengthen its presence in the global marine engine market.

Photo by: HD Hyundai Website