'Hyundai Republic' helps keeps economy afloat

ADNOC has three tankers of 105,000 deadweight tonnes on order from the shipyard, with the first expected to be ready next month.

ULSAN, SOUTH KOREA // The world's biggest shipyard makes the enormous oil tankers it produces for the Gulf appear tiny. In each dry dock at Hyundai Heavy Industries, steel hulks sit in various stages of completion, attended by welders, painters and huge overhead cranes that can lift everything from a ship's bow to its huge engines. The biggest dry dock - a huge pool drained of water - measures 672 metres long, 90 metres wide and 13 metres deep; large enough to build four vessels at a time.

UAE firms have three tankers of 105,000 deadweight tonnes on order here, with the first expected to be ready next month and delivered to FAL Shipping of Sharjah, Hyundai Heavy officials say. Two additional ships to transport chemicals are scheduled to be completed next year for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. This is the industrial capital of South Korea, renowned for its scale, efficiency and uniformity. All employees, whether managers or welders, wear identical jackets, and the shipyard's neighbours include a huge Hyundai Motors plant, the Hyundai department store and the Hyundai Hotel. The locals jokingly call it the "Hyundai Republic".

Directly to the south are some of the world's biggest refineries and chemical plants that process half of the country's oil imports. It is not pretty, but Ulsan's industrial might does wonders for its economy: GDP per capita here is the highest in the country, and the vast factories employ tens of thousands of people who lack university degrees. @Email:[e-mail]