Hanwha Ocean to open Canadian Office

South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean plans to establish a new overseas office in Canada as part of its efforts to strengthen its presence in the North American defense market, according to industry sources Wednesday.

The company's board of directors approved the plan to set up the Canadian office during a meeting held on June 23, the sources said. This is the latest in moves by Team One Korea ahead of a CPSP awarding.

If you remember from the other week The Korean government is also planning to send over retired 4-star general, former deputy commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces, and senior member of Korea's ruling Democratic Party Kim Byung-joo to Canada as a Special Envoy.

The details are still scarce, but I can confirm this is the plan, to which im looking to for an official statement on the matter. This would be the last of a very complete puzzle for Team One Korea to fully establish it's position on CPSP.

They now have the agreements in place, the Canadian team, set proposal, and soon a dedicated representative and company ed. It is the rounding out of a package that the Koreans have been building over the last three years.

To say they have not been working hard behind the scene is an understatement. Its also probably about time I do a round-up of the two major CPSP players and their moves on the board.

TKMS also announced the other month that they were opening up an office in Ottawa ahead on a potential signing. We covered that before so this move doesnt feel to shocking. When you have such a massive project like this it's bound to happen.

There has been no confirmation on the idea of an award within the next year. The officially governement timeline remains at 2027/2028 at this time, however internal sources and industry are confident that there is a high likelihood we see something next year.

This is essentially down to a two person competition, with both sides very quickly prepping to make theor case ahead if an RFP drop. Both sides, beyond the high value of this deal, have very good reasons to be taking this seriously.

Again, we will need a dedicated post for that. For now though the game is at play. Both sides are starting to prepare for the inevitable confrontation. TKMS is planning to make some more announcements soon that, im told, will even the playing field more. We will see about that.