The president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, has hailed the arrival of South Korea’s largest shipbuilder to the archipelago as an opportunity to get the Southeast Asian nation again to its “glory days” of shipbuilding.
Marcos welcomed officers from HD Hyundai and US funding agency Cerebus to the presidential palace yesterday to debate how one can revitalise a shipyard advanced Cerebus purchased at Subic Bay, which the Korean firm has come onboard as an investor.
HD Hyundai has dedicated to speculate round $550m over the course of 10 years with an preliminary deal with the event of offshore wind platforms with Marcos hopeful the Korean firm may additionally construct ships in Subic as effectively. HD Hyundai has one different abroad yard funding, Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding.
Marcos mentioned HD Hyundai’s arrival gave the Philippines a “recent begin” and a “sturdy basis” for shipbuilding.
“Now we have established our place as the biggest supply of competent and in a position seafarers on the planet. The subsequent logical step for us is to make sure that the ships run by Filipinos may also be made by Filipinos,” mentioned Marcos
Cerberus purchased the defunct Hanjin Subic Bay shipyard in 2022, one of many largest shipbuilding bases in Southeast Asia, positioned at a former US navy base to the north of the capital, Manila.
The Philippines had been looking for a purchaser for the yard for years after Hanjin Heavy Industries and Development defaulted on loans, forcing the yard’s shuttering in 2019.
The large yard in Subic Bay delivered its first ship in 2008 and is able to constructing the biggest ships afloat having delivered a 20,000 teu ship and a sequence of VLCCs up to now.