Subic Bay Freeport Zone – Korean shipbuilding giant Hanjin Heavy Industry and Construction Co., Ltd. - Philippines (HHIC-Phil Inc.) has reached another milestone when it recently unveiled the first-ever Philippine-made Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) carrier in a naming ceremony held at the company’s 300-ha Hanjin Subic shipyard attended mostly attended by Saverys family, Exmar executives with their VIP invitees and top Hanjin officials mostly by Hanjin senior officials and shipping company executives. The unprecedented event has once again affirmed the world class craftsmanship of Filipino workers in the global shipbuilding industry.
The 38,000m3 class LPG carrier was ordered by Exmar Shipping BVBA, a Belgian company. With the supervision of Exmar Site Office and classification society Lloyd’s Register, the vessel’s construction begun in June 2014 and was launched in April 2015. The LPG carrier has been named “KAPRIJKE” and measures 180m in length, 29.4m in breadth and 18.0m in depth.
HHIC-Phil Inc. has still seven (7) LPG carriers in the company’s orderbook to be delivered in the immediate future. In 2012, HHIC-Phil Inc. has put the country in the worldwide spotlight with the simultaneous inauguration of two (2) Suezmax Crude Oil Tankers first ever built on the Philippine shore.
In a statement, HHIC-Phil President Jeong Sup Shim reminisced the challenges the company had to go through in putting up state-of-the-art shipyard in the country’s premier Freeport. He attributed the company’s success to the support of the Philippine government and outstanding work ethic of Hanjin shipyard workers
“It is our company’s earnest desire and long term commitment to catapult the Philippines as the number one shipbuilding country in the world”, Mr. Shim said. Citing the June 2015 edition of the shipping journal published by highly authoritative Europe-based Clarksons Research, Mr. Shim said “both the Philippines and HHIC-Phil Inc. have been making great strides in the international business scene, motivating us to push ourselves to the limit to bring more prosperity not only for our company but also for our generous host – the Filipino people”, adding that, ”The Philippines is currently ranked 4th in the world in terms of order book by builder country with 2.1 Gross Compensated Tonnage (CGT) for new vessel”. Quoting the same report, Shim stated “Hanjin Subic shipyard is the 10th largest shipyard in the world in terms of order book by shipyard, accounting to 1.8 GCT or 74% of the Philippines’ CGT for new vessels”.
HHIC-Phil Inc. has been building huge commercial vessels ranging from container ships to bulk carriers, crude oil tankers and off-shore structures mainly for overseas clients since 2008. HHIC-Phil Inc.’s Hanjin Subic shipyard boasts of one of the largest drydocks in the world today. Its drydock no. 5 measures 370mx100mx12.5m, while drydock no. 6 tilts the scale at 550mx135mx13m. Complementing such mammoth facilities is the shipyard’s quay wall that stretches up to 4 kilometers. With its competitive advantage in terms of highly skilled workforce, latest technology and physical assets, HHIC-Phil Inc. can accommodate immediate construction of ultra large vessels including containerships with capacity ranging from 11,000 TEU to 20, 600 TEU.
HHIC-Phil Inc. has invested around US$1.7 Billion so far and its shipyard is currently home to almost 29,000 workers and still counting. The company operates a Skill Development Center, a multi-million world class training facility located at the heart of the Subic Bay Freeport’s Industrial Park. Since its inauguration in 2006, said training facility serves as the bastion of competitive work force that matches the aggressive vision of the company of sustaining its place as a leader in shipbuilding industry. The said training center has already mentored more than 39,000 trainees to date. HHIC-Phil Inc. already delivered a total of 82 ships plus 5 off-shore projects as of this month of August and is looking forward to more deliveries to propel the Philippines’ economic growth and development to greater heights in the coming years.
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