Hanjin Subic gets Rio bulker order

Hanjin Heavy Industries’ shipyard in Subic Bay, Philippines, recently signed a $500 million contract to construct eight 205,000 dwt bulk carriers for Anglo-Australia’s Rio Tinto.

Hanjin Heavy Industries – Philippines (HHI-Phil) had already won the bids to construct two very large bulk carriers in January, one in February and eight in April. So far this year, it has won bids to build 19 bulkers.

The newbuildings will measure 300m in length, 50m in width and have a service speed of 15 knots. Delivery of the first unit is scheduled for the second half of 2012 and all eight will be completed by 2013.

The 2.6 million m2 HHI-Phil site is 10 times bigger than Yeongdo Dockyard in Korea and, with its competitive labour and stable production systems, the Subic facility is now capable of building offshore plants as well as very large carriers which are too large for the conventional Yeongdo yard to handle.

“We are going to develop the highly-efficient Subic Shipyard into the world’s leading shipbuilding site and Yeongdo Dockyard into a strategic shipbuilding base for high-technology carriers and offshore supply vessels through facility modernization,” an official from HHIC said. The Subic shipyard has been equipped with a 370m-long Dock 5, the 550m long and 135m wide Dock 6 which is claimed to be the largest of its kind, 4km-long quay facility, four ultra-large cranes and over 1,000m-long automated assembly lines. The company has a full order book for the next 3 years. motorship.com