Korea Ship and Offshore Structures Congress held its 2021 workshop for two days from February 10 to February 11, 2022 at Paradise Hotel Busan. This workshop was held under the planned theme of “shipbuilding and marine industries and decarbonization, and research outcomes in shipbuilding, marine, and plant structure”.

During the workshop, professor Jaemyung Lee at Pusan National University and Korean Register (KR) Decarbonization R&D Center head and senior vice president Kanghyun Song gave their presentations on “Trends on the use of zero-carbon fuels for ships” and “Strategies of shipping companies and shipyards for responding to IMG GHG regulations”, respectively. There was also a special lecture of decarbonization expert Jaehun Lim of DNV vessel register on “Marine Decarbonization”.  

There were presentations and discussions on various topics. For instance, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), KR (in Korean alphabetical order) explained their research outcomes of existing research on structure, digitalization, and interface development for structural design. Pusan National University, Seoul National University, Chosun University, and Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH, in Korean alphabetical order) presented the results of their study on welding, cases of applying CFRP to ships, and analysis of ship’s damage stability, etc. 

Although the workshop was planned to be held in summer of 2021, but it was postponed due to COVID-19. The situation was not favorable even then the workshop was held in February. To ensure the safety of participants, the Congress asked them to check the temperature, issued a mandatory check-in with QR code for verification of vaccination, and they are also allowed to access the venue after undergoing a COVID-19 self-test (rapid antigen test). There were not many participants to attend the offline event, but it was all the more meaningful as it became a lively workshop to be held offline in a long time.     

To commemorate the end of official activities of the 20th chairman along with the workshop, there was an inaugural ceremony of the 21th chairman. managing director Joongkyu Kang of DSME (director of Industrial Technology Research Institute) expressed his feelings for serving as the 20th chairman and professor Myunghyun Kim of Pusan National University unveiled his vision and plans as the new chairman.