Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Korea's second-largest shipbuilder after Hyundai Heavy Industries, said on July 29 that it would provide production and management consulting services on naval vessels for a British defense company. 

 

Under the terms of the agreement, Daewoo Shipbuilding will conduct investigations on 11 areas of shipyard operations for BAE Systems Surface Ships Ltd., a shipbuilding arm of BAE System Group, and suggest ways to improve its productivity.

 

Following the defense budget cut, BAE Systems Surface Ships had been looking for ways to cut back on the cost to build warships and reduce inefficiencies

and ended up contacting DSME as it commissioned four warships with the Korean company in 2012.

 

A DSME official said, "The shipbuilding industry has focused on selling hardware, but now the focus will shift toward selling software like consulting services." The latest contract will give an advantage to Daewoo Shipbuilding in winning additional navy ship deals in Britain as the British government gives extra points for contributing to its country's defense industry.