AsiaShipyards

Philippines lays out the welcome mat for global shipbuilders

The Philippines is going all out to attract shipbuilders to set up shop in the archipelago. With already well-known shipyard brands such as Tsuneishi, Keppel, Austal and Hanjin Heavy churning out a wide variety of vessels in the Southeast Asian nation trade officials are eyeing more big names to look at establishing subsidiaries there. The country is already the fourth largest shipbuilding nation in the world, led by South Korea’s Hanjin Heavy yard in Subic Bay, a giant facility capable of building the largest ships afloat and reportedly looking to grow its facility in the coming year.

Next month the Department of Trade and Industry, via the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (DTI-CITEM), will participate for the first time at Asia Pacific Maritime (APM), Singapore’s leading maritime exhibition.

“With the onset of globalization, opportunities are immense in shipbuilding and repair. This drives us to charter a new direction in trade promotion, leading the first-ever Philippine exhibit in APM to highlight the country’s promising prospects in the international maritime trade,” said DTI-CITEM executive director Clayton Tugonon.

In the past both Samsung Heavy Industries and Cosco have been linked with creating yards in the Philippines, although despite scouting locations neither party decided to pursue the yard venture.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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