Ulsan, Yeongnam, South Korea

Economy | Shipbuilding | Petroleum | Automotive | Lithium-ion battery manufacture | Transportation

🇰🇷 Ulsan, officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City, and nicknamed Hyundai City, is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighbouring Busan to the south and facing Gyeongju to the north.

Ulsan is the industrial powerhouse of South Korea, forming the heart of the Ulsan Industrial District. It has the world's largest automobile assembly plant, operated by the Hyundai Motor Company; the world's largest shipyard, operated by Hyundai Heavy Industries; and the world's third largest oil refinery, owned by SK Energy. In 2020, Ulsan had a GDP per capita of $65,352, the highest of any region in South Korea.

Economy As the centre of the Ulsan Industrial District, the city is the corporate base of the multinational Hyundai conglomerate. Up to 1962, Ulsan operated as a fishing port and market centre. As part of South Korea's first five-year economic plan, Ulsan became an open port. Additionally, the government designated Ulsan as a Special Industrial District, which encouraged development of major industrial plants and factories: an oil refinery, fertilizer plants, automobile production, and heavy industries were developed here. The shipbuilding port Bangeojin was annexed by the city in 1962.

Shipbuilding Hyundai Group founded Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan in 1973, which effectively turned the city into a company town and drew a large influx of workers into the city. The company's importance to the city can be seen in its name's omnipresence, with a highway named after Hyundai's founder, and the hospital, school, theater, as well as many restaurants and department stores bearing the Hyundai name.

Amid a global downturn in shipbuilding, Hyundai Heavy Industries sold $1 billion of assets and laid off large numbers of employees in 2016. The company borrowed money from the state-run Korea Development Bank in order to purchase Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, forming Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, with plans to move corporate headquarters to Seoul. Some view this downturn as an indicator of South Korea's over-reliance on chaebols, and fear that a period of deindustrialization for Ulsan mirroring the United States' Rust Belt could be on the horizon.

Petroleum The city has the world's third largest oil refinery with 840,000 BPD, owned by SK Energy South Korea no.3 S-oil refinery complex with 669,000BPD and 1.7million PX plant of world single largest facility, 39,000BPD lubricant base oil owned by Saudi Aramco is also in Ulsan.

Automotive Ulsan is the home of the world's largest automobile assembly plant of 300,000 annual capacity 5 assembly plants, proving ground and in-house peers, operated by Hyundai Motors started 50,000 capacity in 1968 now 30 times expansion of massive motor top complex in the world with own export piers with logistics competitiveness. Its integrated design of related functions was inspired by the Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan.

Lithium-ion battery manufacture In November 2011, SB LiMotive opened an advanced lithium-ion battery production plant in Ulsan. SB LiMotive was a 50-50 consortium of Samsung SDI and Robert Bosch GmbH. In September 2012, Samsung SDI bought out Robert Bosch GmbH's portion of SB LiMotive for $95 million to gain 100% ownership of the Ulsan production facility. The Ulsan plant is one of Samsung SDI's trio of advanced car-battery production facilities.

Transportation The city transport department plans to build a light-rail line. The public transportation system is as good as any other major Korean city. The bus system shows a specific ETA at most bus stops.

Ulsan Airport, constructed in 1970 and expanded in 1997, has more than 20 flights per day to and from Seoul's Gimpo International Airport and 4 flights per week to and from Jeju International Airport. In November 2010, Korea's high-speed train network, the KTX, was extended to Ulsan. This provides a high-speed link to Seoul, with a running time of just over 2 hours. The new KTX station (Ulsan Station) is in nearby Eonyang, with a series of express buses (5001-5005), as well as some city buses serving the new station. The original city station has been renamed Taehwa River Station.

Ulsan, Yeongnam, South Korea 
<b>Ulsan, Yeongnam, South Korea</b>
Image: Xptmxm101

Ulsan is ranked #86 by the Global Urban Competitiveness Report (GUCR) which evaluates and ranks world cities in the context of economic competitiveness. Ulsan has a population of over 1,166,615 people. Ulsan also forms one of the centres of the wider Yeongnam Region which has a population of over 13,169,678 people.

To set up a UBI Lab for Ulsan see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Ulsan has links with:

🇨🇳 Changchun, China 🇮🇳 Chennai, India 🇯🇵 Hagi, Japan 🇹🇼 Hualien City, Taiwan 🇯🇵 Kumamoto, Japan 🇺🇸 Lubbock, USA 🇲🇲 Mandalay, Myanmar 🇺🇾 Montevideo, Uruguay 🇯🇵 Niigata, Japan 🇺🇸 Portland, USA 🇧🇷 Santos, Brazil 🇷🇺 Tomsk, Russia 🇨🇳 Wuxi, China 🇨🇳 Yantai, China
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license | GUCR

South of: 35.538

🇯🇵 Machida 35.538

🇯🇵 Kawasaki 35.531

🇬🇷 Chania 35.519

🇯🇵 Kōhoku 35.517

🇩🇿 Sig 35.517

🇯🇵 Asahichō 35.517

🇸🇾 Latakia 35.517

🇯🇵 Iida 35.516

🇨🇳 Jincheng 35.502

🇯🇵 Ichihara 35.5

East of: 129.313

🇰🇷 Pohang 129.35

🇨🇳 Longjing 129.433

🇯🇵 Amami 129.483

🇨🇳 Yanji 129.5

🇨🇳 Mudanjiang 129.633

🇷🇺 Yakutsk 129.717

🇯🇵 Sasebo 129.726

🇨🇳 Wangqing County 129.767

🇰🇵 Chŏngjin 129.79

🇨🇳 Tumen 129.85

West of: 129.313

🇰🇷 Gyeongju 129.216

🇰🇷 Ulju 129.196

🇨🇳 Yanbian 129.183

🇰🇷 Samcheok 129.161

🇰🇷 Haeundae District 129.158

🇰🇷 Haeundae 129.158

🇰🇷 Donghae 129.114

🇰🇷 Busan 129.106

🇰🇷 Suyeong 129.1

🇰🇷 Geumjeong 129.083

Antipodal to Ulsan is: -50.687,-35.538

Locations Near: Ulsan 129.313,35.5383

🇰🇷 Ulju 129.196,35.614 d: 13.5  

🇰🇷 Gyeongju 129.216,35.84 d: 34.6  

🇰🇷 Yangsan 129.033,35.333 d: 34.1  

🇰🇷 Geumjeong 129.083,35.233 d: 39.8  

🇰🇷 Haeundae District 129.158,35.153 d: 45.1  

🇰🇷 Haeundae 129.158,35.153 d: 45.1  

🇰🇷 Suyeong 129.1,35.167 d: 45.6  

🇰🇷 Busan 129.106,35.133 d: 48.8  

🇰🇷 Nam 129.08,35.14 d: 49.1  

🇰🇷 Buk 128.99,35.2 d: 47.7  

Antipodal to: Ulsan -50.687,-35.538

🇧🇷 Rio Grande -52.099,-32.041 d: 19604.9  

🇧🇷 Pelotas -52.341,-31.763 d: 19568.3  

🇺🇾 Maldonado -54.95,-34.9 d: 19621.4  

🇧🇷 Bagé -54.107,-31.328 d: 19449.6  

🇧🇷 Viamão -51.023,-30.088 d: 19408.3  

🇧🇷 Porto Alegre -51.229,-30.028 d: 19400.3  

🇺🇾 Montevideo -56.198,-34.907 d: 19509.6  

🇧🇷 Alvorada -51.079,-30.001 d: 19398.2  

🇧🇷 Cachoeirinha -51.083,-29.95 d: 19392.6  

🇧🇷 Gravataí -50.983,-29.933 d: 19391.2  

Bing Map

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