SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Eight months after the keel was laid, the first oceangoing vessel constructed in Subic by Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp.-Philippines (HHIC-Phil) is set to undergo sea trials this month prior to its delivery in June this year.

Pyeong Jong Yu, manager of Hanjin’s Outside Business Department, announced that the South Korean shipbuilder has recently completed outfitting the ship, a 41,000-ton cargo carrier which has been ordered by the Greek shipping company Dioryx Marine Corporation.

“We are proud that our first vessel built within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone will be undergoing sea trials on May 27 this year,” Yu said in a letter to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

He added that the first Subic ship has already received certifications, including an Attestation Certificate from Bureau Veritas (Ship Surveyors) on April 30, a Cargo Ship Safety Equipment Certificate, a complete crew list, and a Certificate of Competency of the Korean crew issued by the Busan Regional Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Office.

According to its Cargo Ship Safety Equipment Certificate from Bureau Veritas, the ship has a gross weight of 41,000 tons, is 258.9 meters in length, 32 meters wide and 19 meters high. It has an optimal sailing speed of 24.5 knots.

Temporarily designated as PN-001, the newly-constructed ship will bear the name M/V ARGOLIKOS and will fly a Greek flag, with Piraeus, Greece as its port of registry.

The ship, which has an approximate market value of US$60 million, will be formally named by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a ceremony prior to its delivery to Dioryx in June, said SBMA Chairman Feliciano Salonga.

The ARGOLIKOS, which was started by Hanjin with a first steel-cutting ceremony in April 2007, is just one of the six units of container ships lined up for delivery to Dioryx.

Hanjin said the delivery was originally scheduled for 2009, but the ship will be available six months earlier.

Another six units of 4,300-TEU ships intended for NSC Schiffartsgeselhaft of Germany are also undergoing construction in the Hanjin shipyard’s second production line.

Salonga said the scheduled sea trial this month “will announce to the world that Subic Freeport is destined to become the next maritime hub in the Asia-Pacific region.”
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“This is really remarkable,” Salonga said. “In less than eight months after laying the keel on September 1, 2007, now the maritime community will be witnessing the sea trial of the first ship constructed in Subic Bay.”

At the same time, Salonga pointed out that the Hanjin shipbuilding project here is boosting economic growth in the country by providing direct and indirect jobs to more than 20,000 Filipinos.

The Hanjin shipyard is expected to generate from US$2 to 3.5 billion worth of exports a year, he added. This level of export would be the largest by a single locator in Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

SBMA records shows that HHIC-Phil started its shipyard project in May 2006, utilizing a 480-hectare area in Subic’s Redondo Peninsula.

Hanjin’s 2006 projected investment of US$1-billion was already the largest single investment outside South Korea at that time, but the company committed an additional US$684 million last year.

The Dioryx is just the first of the 16 container ships of the same size to be built by Hanjin with a total of close to US$1 billion.

“About 40% of the total cost of the ships are being spent on manpower, about $400 million will go to salaries of the workers at the Hanjin shipyard. This is a huge contribution to the national and local socio-economic growth,” Salonga concluded.

Aside from the shipyard, HHIC-Phil has constructed in the Subic Bay Freeport the Hanjin Skills Development Center, which is worth P240 million, and the P600-million Balaybay-Subic-Cawag road that links the Hanjin shipyard to the towns of Subic and Castillejos in Zambales.

The Hanjin training center, which can accommodate from 500 to 1,000 trainees per batch, is reputedly the biggest training facility in the world that is dedicated to shipbuilding. (30)