The US Navy has repeatedly requested additional repairs to a support ship undergoing maintenance at HJ Shipbuilding & Construction’s Yeongdo shipyard in Busan, expanding the contract beyond its original scope, industry officials said Sunday.
HJ Shipbuilding & Construction has been working on the USNS Amelia Earhart, a US Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship, at its Yeongdo shipyard in Busan since January. The company secured the maintenance, repair and overhaul contract in December. The vessel initially was expected to complete the work and leave the shipyard in March.
The project has continued because the US military requested additional repairs after work began, according to HJ Shipbuilding. The company previously negotiated an extension around March for work that was not included in the original contract. Delivery was then expected by the end of June, but further change orders have made that schedule difficult to meet, industry officials said.
Change orders allow a customer and contractor to revise a contract’s work, cost and schedule when additional repairs become necessary.
“While we were performing the work included in the initial contract, the US military continued to ask us to repair other items while the ship was already in the dock,” an HJ Shipbuilding official said. “This is not simply a delay. The scope of the contract is expanding as additional work continues to emerge.”
Similar changes occurred during Hanwha Ocean’s overhaul of the USNS Wally Schirra, another US Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship. Hanwha Ocean won the contract in August 2024, becoming the first South Korean shipbuilder to perform a large-scale regular overhaul of a US Navy support vessel. The ship was delivered in March 2025 after a seven-month overhaul that took longer than initially planned as the US military requested additional work.
“When inspections uncover areas requiring further maintenance, it is common in this type of business to adjust both the scope of work and the schedule,” a Hanwha Ocean official said.
An HD Hyundai Heavy Industries official said shipyards frequently discover problems that could not have been anticipated before a vessel is taken apart and its internal equipment is inspected.
“When a customer requests additional work, the required labor and workload increase, leading to a change order that revises the price and schedule,” the official said. “Change orders are common in the global ship maintenance market. Continued requests for additional repairs can also mean that the customer trusts the shipyard’s technical capabilities and quality enough to expand the work.”
Industry officials said successful maintenance work could help South Korean companies win follow-up repair contracts and potentially expand cooperation into naval ship construction.
“From the US military’s perspective, completing all necessary repairs while a vessel is already in the dock is much more efficient than docking it again later,” an industry official said. “Assigning additional work also indicates that the customer recognizes the quality of the shipyard’s work.”
The US Navy has increasingly used shipyards in allied countries to improve fleet readiness and reduce the time required to send vessels back to the United States for maintenance. South Korean yards inspect hulls, engines and electrical and electronic equipment after vessels enter dry dock. When previously unidentified defects are found, the shipyards consult with the US military before conducting additional repairs.
MSI previously reported that the Senate Armed Services Committee approved a provision in the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that would allow the Navy to procure up to two bulk fuel vessels and up to two strategic sealift vessels from foreign shipyards, with South Korean builders considered among the most likely beneficiaries. Read more.