The Ministry of Justice announced on March 1 that 1,595 visas for foreign shipbuilding workers were issued from January last year to January this year and those include 880 given to Vietnamese shipbuilding workers, followed by Thai (233), Uzbek (200), Indonesian (82) and Indian (56).

The 1,595 workers are divided into 533 painters, 500 welders, 286 electric workers and 276 plant engineers. The ministry recently relaxed E-7 visa requirements so that South Korean shipbuilders’ manpower shortage can be alleviated.

The three major South Korean shipbuilders (Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, and Samsung Heavy Industries) are planning to hire more foreign workers this year. Specifically, their new employments are estimated at 900, 1,500 and 1,200, respectively. This year, the industry’s total manpower shortage is estimated at 10,000 workers or so.

“Although there are linguistic and cultural differences, the skills and abilities of those foreign workers with the E-7 visa are currently 70 percent to 80 percent compared to South Korean workers and expected to improve with time,” said an industry source.

Source: BusinessKorea