Hanjin eyes early expansion of Subic facility

Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co. of Korea will expand its shipbuilding facility at Subic Bay Freeport by at least 100 hectares to house a training center and water treatment substation and other support facilities and would eventually occupy 500 hectares in the Redondo district.

Hanjin initially had provisions for 100 hectares and another 240 hectares for the second phase of the project. Its operations in Subic entail total investments of $1 billion and the shipbuilder already has 12 orders for newbuildings with the first ship to be delivered by 2008. Because of the order intake, the company now needs some 3,000 welders and plans to hire 200 new welders each month.

The project is expected to generate at least 15,000 new direct jobs for workers in Subic.

The new training facility is a permanent in-house training center to help boost the skills of prospective workers in the province. The Korean shipbuilder opened a temporary training center in the freeport earlier this year, converting a multi-purpose building within its shipyard. During the three-month training period, 100 trainees, mostly from Zambales, Olongapo City and Bataan, will be taught the necessary skills to qualify them for shipbuilding jobs.