Korea invests in marine muscle

by Jeni Bone/Tim Coventry on 26 Apr 2009 Watch out Australia, South Korea is aiming to become the regional centre for recreational boating and allied marine industries. To prove how serious it is, investment is in the multi-millions and several provinces are already at work building a network of marinas and infrastructure to cater to this anticipated boom. Report by Tim Coventry.

Mention Korea and depending on your age you will immediately think of the early 1950’s war between the north and the south or if you are younger, the latest hi-tech electronics gadgets. What you won’t think about is leisure boating and the marina lifestyle that goes with it, which is about to happen in this sophisticated market of 44 million rich and middle class consumers.

Eager to establish itself on the world boating scene the Province Governments are competing with each other to be the first with a network of marina facilities to cater for the growing interest in leisure boating.

According to a report ‘The Status Of The Yacht Industry in EU And Policy Direction Of Gyeongsangnam-do' by Jingeun Kim, April, 2008’ 29 marina projects are anticipated to be completed over the next 11 years and make an additional 6,115 berths available for leisure boats. Currently there are three active marinas in South Korea with a berth capacity of 1,554 boats on water and land. This network will be boosted in June with the opening of Jeongok Marina in Gyeonggi Province with a 50% first phase of 120 berths which will be used for the 2009 Korea International Boat Show and Marine Festival.

To the south of Jeongok, a 500 berth marina is planned at nearby Jebu for completion in 2012. West of Jebu a 400 berth marina is planned at Helgot and should be ready by 2020.

To the north will be the 200 berth marina at Bang-A Meori due to open in 2015.
The long-term plan is to develop the coastal regions and its chain of southern islands into a tourist destination with marinas and other boating related businesses. Gyeongnam, Gyeonggi and Jeollanam-Do provinces are moving ahead with development plans that include marinas and expansion of boatbuilding facilities.

The lead province of the country’s boating revolution is Gyeonggi. Combined with nearby Seoul and within a short distance from Incheon international airport, with a population of 22 million and host to many of Koreas major industries it is the power house behind South Korea’s recent economic growth.

The centre of Gyeonngi’s leisure marine development will be a new purpose built industrial complex for boatbuilding, retail, refit, and repair centres.

Constructed on landfill close to the new marina at Jeongok (home of the Korean International Boat Show) the 1.98 million m2 site will include 990,000m2 for domestic firms specializing in leisure marine related production, with another 660,000m2 earmarked for foreign companies. Training, sales, and repair facilities will make up the remaining 330,000m2.

President Lee Myung bak has just announced a massive US$10 billion investment program in R&D related expenditure for selected industries. This is a far sighted policy to position Korean industry to take advantage of a post recession upturn in World demand with a high emphasis on design and technology.

The leisure marine industry is one of those included in this program with a starting fund of US$10m, half of which will be released for immediate spend this June. This will open up opportunities for technology transfer and joint ventures with potential industry partners outside Korea.

A government spokesman said: 'This new injection of funding is to encourage the development of state of the art design and technology and to enable the rapid growth of our industry.'