At its meeting of 24th September, Anstruther Rotary was treated to a most interesting illustrated talk by club member and ship’s master Ian McBain. Ian gave a fascinating insight to Samsung’s Korean Geoje shipyard, where vessels are built for his company.

What we saw was a modern ‘mass production factory’ for huge tankers, container ships, gas and oil exploration ships and much more. Apart from the overwhelming size of the operation, what was striking was the tidiness, cleanliness and sense of order of the assembly yards. Seemingly almost clinically clean - and far removed from the more ‘craft-based’ approach to shipbuilding recalled from the past.

Samsung brings in the steel, which is formed into blocks or ‘modules’ in purpose- build factory units. One unit for example may specialise in bow sections. The modules are assembled in correct order and welded together to produce a ship. Ian likened it to a ‘Lego’ set – but it must be said these blocks weigh around 2,500 tons each! In the jargon of the digital age these are apparently no longer ‘megablocks’ but ‘gigablocks’

Gigantic gantry and floating cranes of up to 8,000 tons lift, manoeuvre the blocks around.

It was sobering to hear that 51% of all ships in the world are now built by Samsung – including complex ice drill ships with a price tag of $1.3bn each.

But even the massive Geoje shipyard, with a 20,000 strong workforce and its own village to house workers, is not the biggest. Daewoo has one larger and Hyundai now has the largest in the world.   

Following questions, a vote of thanks was proposed on behalf of an appreciative audience, by Andy Matthew.