Training Ship the Hannara Successfully Concludes the Friendly Exchange Event with Vietnam Maritime University in Hai Phong, Vietnam

Strengthening International Exchange and Friendship Activities through this Visit to the Vietnam Maritime University in Hai Phong

Korea Maritime & Ocean University (KMOU, President Ryu Dong-geun) announced today that its training ship the Hannara (Captain Kang Min-gyun) successfully concluded an exchange event with Vietnam Maritime University (VMU).

As part of the project to develop national universities, the ship is traveling around the world embarking on the “2024 Second Semester’s Ocean Voyage.” On the 17th, it entered the port in Hai Phong, Vietnam.

Nguyen Minh Duc, Vice President of VMU, Nguyen Hong Van, Dean of International Cooperation, 20 VMU students, and seven representatives from the Vietnamese Korean Association were on deck to welcome the Hannara into port.

In Hai Phong, Vietnam, the Hannara engages in exchanges with members of the VMU. A delegation of key officials, including the Vice President of VMU, toured the state-of-the-art seamanship training facilities aboard the ship and discussed ways to promote future exchanges between the two universities. They also participated in the arrival ceremony and banquet prepared by Hannara, during which school promotion and friendly exchange activities took place.

The following day, on the 18th, a total of 150 faculty and students from the Hannara visited VMU for a cultural exchange event and a friendly soccer match, and held various activities aimed at enhancing international awareness and fostering cross-cultural understanding between students from both countries.

On the same day, a delegation from the Hannara, including Captain Kang Min-gyun, Director Lim Jung-hoon, and seven students, visited the former ship, which served as a training ship for KMOU since its commissioning in 1993, and played a key role in training Korean maritime officers for 27 years before being decommissioned in May 2019. The ship was handed over to the Vietnamese government at the request of the late President Truong Tan Dai Quang during the 2018 Korea-Vietnam Summit, and is now used as a training ship for the VMU (renamed as VMU Viet-Han).

“This exchange event is a valuable opportunity to further strengthen the friendly cooperation between VMU and our university that has been strong over the past 20 years,” said Captain Kang Min-gyun of the Hannara. “The training ship will continue to fulfill its role as a global campus where our students can connect with future generations around the world through the shared domain of the sea and grow into maritime professionals with international awareness.”

Measuring 120 meters in length, with a gross tonnage of 9,196 tons and a maximum speed of 19 knots, the KMOU’s Hannara was built in 2019 and is the largest training ship in Asia. The ocean voyage training, which includes international port visits, and the coastal voyage training along domestic waters provide KMOU students with hands-on maritime skills essential for their professional development. The university’s other training ship, the Hanbada, has a gross tonnage of 6,686 tons.