WSJ report on Hanwha Philly Shipyard's high costs and stalled expansion tests Korea's MASGA shipbuilding plan

A Wall Street Journal report relayed by Korean media on October 13 and 14, 2026 said Hanwha Philly Shipyard lacks space and customers nearly a year into the Korea-US "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again" (MASGA) initiative. The yard's three container ships for Matson are priced at about $330 million each, roughly twice the cost of comparable vessels built in Korea or China, and Hanwha's planned $5 billion expansion has stalled while it awaits US government financing, according to an unnamed source. Hanwha's US Navy work so far is limited to the Next Generation Logistics Ship design effort with VARD and a Missile Defense Agency vessel project with TOTE. Seoul Economic Daily added that no Korean shipbuilder other than Hanwha has committed to the Philadelphia site and that Korea's $150 billion shipbuilding investment pledge remains largely on paper. Hanwha says the workforce has more than doubled since 2024 to nearly 2,500.