Subic eyes locally made small vessels

THE Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is considering building a shipyard for small inter-island ships, particularly roll-on roll-off (RORO) vessels for President Arroyo’s nautical highway system.

SBMA chairman Feliciano Salonga, whose background is in shipbuilding engineering and naval architecture, said the vessels he has in mind are small, with a gross capacity of 5,000 to 10,000 tons and capable of carrying five to seven trucks loaded with rice and other commodities.

He said there is a demand for 2,500 ships for the domestic shipping industry because the old inter-island trading vessels are no longer seaworthy, as shown by the many incidents of sinking.
"We are now completing a program for a domestic shipyard to be built here soon with the funds that will be available from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation, which offers low-cost money.

The interest is less than 1 percent and loans have long terms of payment. If we can make this materialize within the next couple of months, we’ll have a new shipyard in SBMA that will address the domestic requirements," he said.

He said they picked JBIC as source of funding because the rates of the Development Bank of the Philippines are too high. "The JBIC offered the funds to the Department of Transportation and Communications. Our requirement is only $30 million, not such a huge amount," he said.

He said the Metro Manila Association of Shipyards has also expressed interest in the project, which will be located at the Freeport’s Naval Supply Depot. "We need 7.1 hectares and it’s available," he added.

– Regina Bengco