Philippine yard to build ultra large vessels

Company officials said in a statement that the firm has signed a contract with Taiwanese shipping company Hsin Chien Marine Co. Ltd. for the construction of two 180,000 dwt Capesize bulkers for delivery starting September next year.

The Capesize contract signals yet another milestone for Hanjin, which completed the expansion of its $1.7 billion shipyard at Subic’s Redondo Peninsula last year. The production of Capesize vessels in Subic followed the firm’s program to diversify vessel type from high-profit vessels to high-valued or ultra-large ships following the expansion of its Subic facility from a capacity of 220,000 tonnes a year to 450,000 tonnes.

Before this, Hanjin could not compete in the ultra-large carrier class against the top three shipbuilders Hyundai, Samsung and Daewoo due to limited space at its Yeongdo shipyard in Busan, Korea.

Last year, as it was still completing the expansion project, Hanjin already announced signing a contract to deliver two Subic-built very large crude containers by June 2011. Both vessels will weigh 320,000-DWT and measure 333m long, 60m wide and 30.5m deep.

The shipbuilder is also eying the prospect of building the 260,000m3 Q-Max LNG carriers, drill ships, FPSOs and marine plants.