Hanjin surpasses employment target for 2007 by 180%

SHIPBUILDER Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co., Ltd. (HHIC), the biggest foregn direct investment (FDI) in tthe country, posted an employment increase rate of 180 percent from its 2007 target.

This was announced by Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) administrator Armand Arreza after the inauguration rites for opening of the P653-million Subic-Cawag-Balaybay access road led by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Hanjin’s shipbuilding facility now provides jobs to some 5,165 Filipinos from nearby communities and 150 Korean nationals.This figure has exceeded Hanjin’s projected employment of 2,960 in 2007 alone.Arreza added that Hanjin’s original plan of creating 7,000 job opportunities by year 2011 has already increased by more than double."This is a very promising projection.

Hanjin, which is in Sitio Agusuhin, Redondo Peninsula, will be craeting a total of 15,800 jobs to the residents of nearby communities by 2011. This is not impossible because Hanjin can now be reached by land through the newly opened 16.15-kilometer access road.

This means getting that there ,which usually tooh an hour and 45 minutes, now only takes about 45 minutes," Arreza said.He further said that by next year, Hanjin aims to augment workforce to 13,080, and 14,280 by 2009.Meanwhile, the Subic Bay Freeport posted a total workforce figure of 68,170 as of May 31,2007.

It comprises 17,600 from the manufacturing sector; 33,221 from services; and 17,349 from the construction industry employed by 818 registered enterprises in the Subic Freeport.This overall figures is 11.7 percent higher than 60,989 recorded in the same period in 2006.

"Hanjin definitely contributed enormously in boosting the workforce in the construction industry," Arreza affirmed.He added that Hanjin will play a big role not only in the development of shipbuilding and ship repair industry in the country, but in boosting the economy of the region by providing about 20,000 to 30,000 direct and indirect hired workers.Earlier, Hanjin said it is making an additional investment of $684 million at the Subic Bay freeport to fund the remaining work for the shipyard and the additional orders for vessels which altogether now stand at $3billion worth, the Subic Bay Metroplitan Authority (SMA) disclosed yesterday.

This puts the investments of South Korea’s fifth largest shipbuilder in the Philippines to $1.684 billion.The SBMA said the additional investments was disclosed by HHIC director and general manager Shim Jeong Sup to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Shim said that the additional investment would underwrite the remaining work under the first and second phase of the company’s project.It said the expansion was made in the response to the increasing number of vessels being ordered from the company, which currently stands at 33 container vessels.The Subic shipyard will transform Subic into one of the four largest shipbuilding facilities in the world.

HHIC recently began the fabrication of its first container vessel, costing some $70 million, in its first container.The Korean company is also scheduled to deliver 33 medium-sized container vessels worth almmost $3 billion in the next two years, and build 82 large-sized ones from 2009 to 2011.Included in Hanjin’s production pipeline is the fabrication of a multimillion-dollar vessel, which would be the biggest ship in the world.

This, plus company’s production and export projections, will significantly increase their manpower requirements and export revenues, said SBMA administrator Armand Arreza.Hanjin directly employs almost 3,000 employees for its shipbuilding operations.

source:malaya newspaper