We boarded the KTX bullet train from the northwestern city of Seoul across South Korea to the southwest industrial city of Ulsan (approximately 250 miles). Here we visited Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Shipbuilding division. This division leads the global shipbuilding industry and is the world’s number one shipbuilder. HHI’s shipyard stretches over four kilometers along the coast in Ulsan, Korea and employs approximately 44,000 people. It has nine large-scale dry docks with six huge “Goliath Cranes”. The division has delivered more than 1500 ships in 48 countries since 1972, since the shipyard’s groundbreaking.
A short ride takes us to the world’s largest automobile plant – The Hyundai Ulsan Plant. As Hyundai Motor’s main production facility, the Ulsan Plant sits on a 5,000,000 square meter SITE and is equipped with five independent plants that employ over 34,000 people to produce an average of 5,400 vehicles a day. The plant has its own port where up to three ships can anchor simultaneously.
To make our day complete, we visited the coastal city of Gyeongju (pronounced “kun-zoo”). This was the capital of the ancient kindgdom of Silla which ruled most of the Korean Peninsula between the 7th and 9th centuries. Its rich historical heritage afforded us the opportunity too tour the Shhilla Dynasty Tombs and Lake.
After a full day of sights, we checked into the Hyundai Hotel (yes, it is Hyundai’s hotel!) located along the lake in Ulsan. This truly is a Hyundai city. Dinner at our leisure and karaoke to follow found many of our group enjoying a delightful evening. My body was so tired that I slept thru dinner and well into the night foregoing the evening activities.
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