BUSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(BUSAN = Yonhap News) The Korean Government plans to build world’s largest marine engineering aquarium in Busan In order to develop the offshore plant industry in South Korea.

The government seeks to jointly invest some 900 billion won with the private sector by 2017 to create over 10,000 new jobs and foster future food industry.

Yoon Sangjik, the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) held a conference in Seoul JW Marriot Hotel on 18th to discuss plans for developing the offshore plant industry.

The joint investment of public and private sector of some 560 billion won plans to build the marine engineering aquarium by 2016, which will create the perfect deep-sea environment for core designing technology research.

The aquarium is 50 meters by 100 meters, with the depth of 15 meters, and it is the largest of its kind in the world.

The marine engineering aquarium in the Netherlands is 36 meters by 45 meters with the depth of 10.3 meters, and the aquarium built by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China is 40 meters by 50 meters with the depth of 10 meters.

Korean marine engineering companies have used the aquariums in European nations to conduct simulation experiments so far, albeit that there were many troubles.

Plant design engineering plays a vital role in develop marine plant industry. If a Korean company builds one FPSO worth 2 billion dollars, it needs to pay about 100 million dollars to overseas design engineering company for designing the plant.

MOTIE seeks to work with shipbuilding companies and relevant equipment companies to begin home production of equipment and directly connect consumers. It also organized council for localization of the core marine equipment such as valves. 4,500 valves are normally used for one FPSO.

The Minister also supports the business performances of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by equipping the LNG tanker of Korea Gas Corporation (KGC) with domestic products. The order for the tanker is expected to be placed next year.

MOTIE also plans to develop the drill ship testing systems to lead SMEs into the offshore plant service markets, such as transportation, trial run, and maintenance businesses.

“By diversifying the currently limited offshore plant industry, we expect to create an opportunity to step up our offshore plant industry.” An official of MOTIE said.

oakchul@yna.co.kr

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Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Nov. 18, 2013)

** This article was translated from the Korean.