In 2012, the OECD Shipbuilding Committee introduced a Peer Review process to examine government policies and support measures affecting the shipbuilding industry. This process involves in-depth reviews of the shipbuilding sectors of participating economies and provides a structured platform for sharing experiences, promoting transparency, and identifying practices that shape competitiveness in the global shipbuilding market. While primarily focused on Shipbuilding Committee members, the process also welcomes participation from non-member economies, either as observers or as subjects of review. The Peer Reviews combine policy analysis with detailed industry context and are enriched through active discussion and feedback among Committee participants.
In 2024 and 2025, Korea was subject to Peer Review, following earlier reviews of Japan (2012), Portugal (2013), Korea (2014), Germany (2015), Norway (2016), Finland (2017), the Netherlands (2019), Türkiye (2021), several EU member states including Croatia, Denmark, Italy, Poland, Romania (2023), the Philippines (2025) and the United Kingdon (2025).
The main goal of the peer review process was to identify government policies, practices, and measures affecting the shipbuilding sector. However, given the increased transparency of support measures under the new Inventory procedure, in April 2022, the OECD shipbuilding committee agreed that peer reviews from 2024 onwards would focus on industry and market topics. In this context, Korea’s second peer review focuses on these industry and market dynamics, reflecting the rapidly evolving global landscape and policy environment.
This report is based on multiple sources, including publicly available data, statistical series accessible to the Secretariat, Korea’s official response to the Peer Review questionnaire, and stakeholder consultations conducted during the OECD’s fact-finding mission to Korea in December 2024, as well as consultations with selected stakeholders and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR) of Korea.
The report provides a timely and comprehensive assessment of the shipbuilding sector in Korea. It primarily covers shipbuilding and marine equipment manufacturing in Korea. The report is structured in three parts:
1. a global perspective to situate the Korean shipbuilding industry within international market trends;
2. a detailed overview of the structure and characteristics of the Korean maritime industry; and
3. an assessment of its competitiveness, including a SWOT analysis and a comparative analysis between Korea and Japan.