Hanjin launches 2 more container ships in Subic

Five months after launching  MV Argolikos, the first container ship to be built in the Philippines, Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co.-Philippines (HHIC-Phil.) scored another historic feat with the simultaneous launching of two more cargo vessels last week. The company, which delivered its second container ship only on August 30, the CMA CGM

Turquoise, said on Monday it has launched two more 4,300-TEU container vessels—the CMA CGM Opal and the CMA CGM Topaz.
The two ships were simultaneously launched from Hanjin’s dock yard No. 5 on Friday, HHIC-Phil. deputy managing director Pyeong Jong Yu said in a statement released late Monday.
Hanjin’s newest babies will both be delivered after the required sea trials to Dioryx Maritime Corp., a Greek shipping firm that has contracted out the first six deliveries to come out of the Subic shipyard.
Like the Turquoise, Opal and Topaz will both be chartered by Dioryx to CMA CGM, the biggest container transportation and shipping company in France.  Both have the same specifications and a market price of $60 million, like their two predecessors.
Yu said the twin launching of Opal and Topaz “is the first [such] event not only for HHIC-Phil., but for the Philippine shipbuilding history.”
He said the 41,000-ton container vessels were built in just six-and-a-half months, with both keels laid out only on May 15.
He added that the fast pace of production did not compromise the required high quality of the vessels, as the firm utilized “up-to-date technology, state-of–the-art equipment, and weather-proof dock shelter that enabled production even during rainy season.”
“But our real secret in the successful completion of the ships is the ever-increasing number of skilled Filipino workers employed at our shipyard,” Yu also said, pointing out that the Hanjin facility now employs more than 15,000 workers.
He also said the hardworking employees of Hanjin, their systematic training at the firm’s Skills Development Center that is reputedly the largest in the world, and the actual work-training in the shipyard thereafter  all contributed to the efficiency of the shipbuilding crew.
Yu also emphasized the huge capacity of Hanjin’s dry dock in Subic, where four vessels can be built at a time, resulted in faster production.
With this, Hanjin expects to launch more than 15 vessels next year, Yu said, describing enhanced production at the Subic shipyard as “revolutionary, not only for HHIC-Phil. but also for the Philippine industry.”
“Our company expects to achieve [this] goal as the workers will surely become better familiarized with shipbuilding work due to continuous training and enhanced work experience,” he added.
Hanjin, which started building its shipyard here in early 2006, has increased the tempo of its ship production after launching its first ship, the MV Argolikos, in July this year. Less than two months later, the CMA CGM Turquoise was also launched.
Hanjin’s Busan headquarters had announced in May last year that the company has signed for the Subic facility a $2.2-billion order for some of the biggest box ships and Capesize carriers ever to be built.
These include eight 12,800-TEU container carriers worth $1.27 billion for Germany’s NSC Schiffartsgeselhaft; 10 3,600-TEU carriers worth $690 million for France’s CMA CGM; and three 175,000-DWT (deadweight ton) capsize bulkers worth $240 million, with two going to India’s Adani Group and the other to Turkey’s Eregli firm.  
At the launching of the Turquoise in August, Hanjin quality assurance director Yoonha Kim noted that Filipino shipyard workers had shown increased efficiency after completing hull construction and engine installation for the Turquoise within the standard Hanjin timetable of 13 months.
For the Argolikos, production took a total of 14 months, Kim said.