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One of the world’s biggest commercial vessels is 100% made in the Philippines


 One of the World’s Biggest Vessels 100% Made in the Philippines
One of the biggest commercial vessels in the world is 100 percent made in the Philippines, particularly at the Subic Bay shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction-Philippines. Photo courtesy of Hanjin Heavy

A gigantic ship such as the TEU class container vessel is now considered as one of the biggest commercial ships in the world, and the best part is that it is 100-percent made in the Philippines, crafted mostly by Filipinos.

Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction-Philippines formally launched on Thursday the first-ever Subic-made 20,600-TEU class container vessel.

TEU or Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit is used to measure a ship’s cargo-carrying capacity. One TEU is equivalent to a standard 20-foot shipping container, or 20-feet long by 8-feet tall.

The newly-built container ship measures 400 meters in length, 59 meters in width, and 33 meters in depth. Its deck is as big as four football fields.

It can transport up to 20,950 units of 40-foot shipping container which, when lined up one after another, would reach 12.5 kilometers long.

Jo Yoo-Hoan, managing director and naval architect at Hanjin Heavy, says said it took them more than two years to build this historic ship.

While it is Korean in terms of production and design, he is proud to have experienced world class craftsmanship and professionalism of the Filipino ship makers.

“We’re very proud of it, with the Philippine workers and the staff, very proud of them. They are so organized, so kind, and so skillful. Wonderful, you know, workers. Our relationship between Korea and Philippines is fantastic.” Jo said.

The launch was witnessed by former President and incumbent Pampanga 2nd District Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Senator Richard Gordon, SBMA chairperson Wilma Eisma, and other local officials.

In her speech, Arroyo recalled how Hanjin Heavy first invested a $1 billion to set up the shipbuilder during her term in 2005.

While Hanjin Heavy thrived in the Philippines, Arroyo advised the company to prepare for the coming challenges as a result of changes in the world economy.

“Even though we are now recovering from the global recession, petroleum production has gone down, the demand for oil tankers has gone down. So, the ship-building industry continues to have its challenges,” Arroyo said.

Because of the world class craftsmanship that showcased Filipino talent in building the ship, Senator Richard Gordon is encouraging maritime academies in the Philippines to include or highlight naval architectural design in their curriculum.

“It is high time, I think, that part of the contribution of Hanjin should be to welcome maritime design. But before they can do that, our government must therefore make sure that part of naval architectural design be incorporated in the naval courses or the maritime courses of the maritime academies all over the Philippines," the senator noted.

The newly-built vessel is the first of three 20,600-TEU class Ultra Large Container ships and is to be delivered by Hanjin Heavy to French shipping company CMA CGM SA, three years after the contract was signed in April 2015. —VDS, GMA News

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