Workers galore needed for Mindanao shipyard

South Korea?s Hanjin Heavy Industries needs 40,000 workers over the next few years to construct and operate their $2 billion shipyard in Tagoloan, on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines.

“Hanjin officials prefer untrained applicants so they can be properly trained the Hanjin standards,” said Pacifico Pupos, Jr., presidential assistant for Northern Mindanao. “In fact, the first batch of 50 welders is now training in Hanjin?s Subic facility.” Besides welders, Pupos said Hanjin would need plumbers and electricians for the project and that Hanjin will be shortly opening its recruitment offices in Cagayan de Oro.

The shipyard is the firm?s second in the country and will be built on a 441.8-hectare lot at the Phividec Industrial Estate. The new facility will have a capacity of 830,000 tons per year when completed in 2017 and will be even larger than Hanjin?s $1 billion shipyard complex in Subic.

The first phase of its Phividec operations will fabricate pipes and light bridges with a maximum capacity of 80,000 tons a year starting next year and will expand capacity to 830,000 tons in the next 15 years when it starts building cargo and container ships.