Hanjin Finishes 1st Phase of Philippines Shipyard

Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction said Tuesday that it has completed the first phase of its shipyard construction project in Subic, the Philippines. The Korean company began the project on a 2.3 million sq.m site in May of last year to overcome problems it was facing due to the small size of its 300,000 sq.m shipyard in Yeongdo, Busan.

The completion of the first phase includes a fifth dock that is 370 m long, 100 m wide and 12.5 m deep, and a 1.6 km long inner wall. Production facilities are also set up including two gantry cranes, process cranes, assembly and painting workshops, an office building and a catering center.

Hanjin also opened a training center to teach shipyard workers welding, painting and other skills. The shipmaker is now working on phase two, which includes additional production and employee facilities and has a completion target of the second half of next year.

"The shipyard in Subic is equipped with facilities that will enable us to generate annual sales of US$3.1 billion (US$1=923) with construction capacity of 36 ships including eight 12,800-TEU container vessels," the company said. "We will promote the shipyard as a global shipbuilding base."