Gwangyang Bay as a hydrogen-port platform in South Korea: locational conditions for a future international hydrogen exchange

Purpose This paper examines whether the Gwangyang Bay Area can be understood as a hydrogen-port platform in South Korea and whether such a platform could provide the locational foundations for a future international hydrogen exchange. Rather than treating exchange creation as an immediate end state, the paper conceptualizes it as a phased process of market-making that links port logistics, industrial offtake, institutional tools, and business services. Design/methodology/approach Methodologically, the study adopts an exploratory qualitative case-study design based on secondary materials. It develops a five-dimensional analytical frame—development logic, physical logistics, anchor demand, institutional and market tools, and service ecosystem/trajectory—from the historical evolution of oil and gas trading hubs and from contemporary hydrogen platform initiatives in Rotterdam and Singapore, and then applies this frame to Gwangyang Bay through an evidence-linked SWOT assessment and a domestic plausibility check centered on Ulsan as the closest rival candidate. Findings The analysis shows that Gwangyang Bay is comparatively strong in industrial demand, port-industrial location, and regional policy commitment, but weaker in finance, internationally oriented business services, and mature market institutions. It also shows that the domestic claim must be qualified: Ulsan remains the strongest Korean rival where existing ammonia logistics, large-scale regional demand, and oil-hub experience are concerned, whereas Gwangyang Bay’s main relative advantage lies in its combination of industrial-port functions and the potential reuse of the former Yeosu Expo site as a business-support node. Originality/value These findings suggest that Gwangyang Bay should not be described as an already viable international hydrogen exchange. A more defensible interpretation is that it could evolve first as a hydrogen-port platform organized around import terminals, handling and conversion infrastructure, certification-compatible transactions, and business-support functions, and only later as part of exchange-linked market formation. The paper contributes to marine economics and management by reframing hydrogen market development as a problem of port-platform formation, institutional sequencing, and coastal industrial governance in an import-dependent economy.