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Busan Metropolitan City Establishes the “4th Comprehensive Plan for Fostering the Marine Industry”… Leaping Toward a Global Maritime Hub City

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it has established and will actively implement the “4th Busan Metropolitan City Comprehensive Plan for Fostering the Marine Industry (2026–2030),” under the vision of “Busan, a global maritime hub city where waves of innovation surge.”

This plan is a statutory comprehensive plan established every five years in accordance with the “Ordinance on the Promotion of the Marine Industry for Realizing Busan as a Maritime Capital.” It comprehensively reflects the current status of the marine industry, internal and external conditions, and future outlook, presenting policy directions and goals for the five-year period from 2026 to 2030, and serving as a mid- to long-term roadmap for fostering Busan’s marine industry.

In particular, this plan is significant in that it responds to changes in the policy environment, such as the relocation of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries to Busan, while incorporating both the advancement of existing marine industries and the restructuring of industrial frameworks and strategic functions. It focuses on establishing an implementation foundation for Busan to leap forward as a global maritime hub city by organically linking administrative, industrial, financial, judicial, and infrastructure functions across the marine sector.

During the planning process, the city established three core values—sustainability, digital innovation and future-readiness, and strengthening global competitiveness—and systematically presented the direction for structural transformation of the marine industry.

Based on “sustainability,” the city plans to prepare for the era of Arctic shipping routes and create an eco-friendly, low-carbon-centered industrial ecosystem, establishing a new growth model where the environment and industry coexist in harmony.

Through “digital innovation and future-readiness,” it aims to accelerate innovation across the entire marine industry and strategically foster future emerging industries to secure new growth engines.

Through “strengthening global competitiveness,” the city plans to elevate Busan’s marine industry to a global level by advancing industries, expanding global networks, and building a foundation for international cooperation.

To implement this comprehensive plan, the city will promote 22 strategies and 48 strategic tasks across seven major sectors in phases, investing a total of 6.7469 trillion KRW over the next five years (1.6724 trillion KRW from national funds, 1.1628 trillion KRW from city funds, and 3.9117 trillion KRW from the private sector).

These investments and strategies will be materialized across seven key sectors—shipping and port logistics, marine finance, marine environment and safety, fisheries, marine science and technology, shipbuilding and offshore plants, and marine tourism, leisure, and sports—and each sector will be interconnected to strengthen the overall competitiveness of the marine industry.

Major detailed tasks by sector include:

Shipping and port logistics: 19 tasks, including relocation of global shipping company headquarters to Busan, development of an eco-friendly large-scale ship repair complex, and establishment of an eco-friendly integrated energy terminal

Marine finance: 13 tasks, including operation of a marine finance graduate program and fostering digital technology-based marine finance startups

Marine environment and safety: 17 tasks, including the creation of the Eco Blue Marine national marine ecological park, development of blue carbon ESG marine ecological forests, and promotion of a global marine cooperation network (hosting the 2028 United Nations Ocean Conference, UNOC)

Fisheries: 18 tasks, including development of a fisheries food cluster, modernization of the Busan Cooperative Fish Market, and establishment of a smart aquaculture big data system

Marine science and technology: 19 tasks, including operation of an industry-academia-research cooperation center for marine science and technology and establishment of a marine and port AX demonstration center

Shipbuilding and offshore plants: 16 tasks, including development of a B-shipbuilding and defense MRO cluster, establishment of a digital innovation platform for shipbuilding and marine equipment based on AI and big data, and designation of a global innovation special zone for next-generation marine mobility

Marine tourism, leisure, and sports: 16 tasks, including establishment of a Busan-style marina hub master plan and advancement of marina facilities on the water surface

Through these efforts, Busan’s marine industry is expected to be reorganized into a complex industrial structure that integrates administration, industry, finance, judiciary, and infrastructure.

Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “Busan is one of the two pillars of Korea’s growth and a city with sufficient competitiveness and potential as a maritime capital region,” adding, “Based on this comprehensive plan, we will promote innovation and advancement across the entire marine industry to further strengthen our status as a global maritime hub city.”