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SUBIC BAY Freeport: President Gloria Arroyo congratulated Korean
ship building giant, Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp.-Philippines (HHIC-Phil)
together with its Filipino workforce for finishing the largest cargo
ship built in the country as she led the launching of MV Argolikos
Friday morning.
She also noted that Hanjin is currently the
fourth largest ship building facility in the world.
“I congratulate the workers from Hanjin for
your superior skills,” she said.
Hanjin officials underscored that MV Argolikos
according to Hanjin officials was built in six months and ahead of
its schedule.
Speaking in Pilipino during the program,
President Arroyo said, “Noong araw kilala ang Pilipino na
magagaling na mga seamen. Ngayon kilala na rin tayo dahil magagaling
sa pagawa ng seacraft, katulad ng MV Argolikos [Filipinos were first
known to be very good seamen, now we will also be known to be
excellent shipbuilders, like the MV Argolikos].”
Another ship like MV Argolikos will also be
finished this year and another four in 2009 for the Greek company,
the Dioryx Maritime Corp. that is estimated at $1.2 billion.
This ship is named after Argolikos, a small gulf
located at the east coast of Peloponnese, Greece, which opens into
the Aegean Sea.
Following the naming ceremony, the 41,000-ton
container carrier, the first to be built in the country, said SBMA
Chairman Feliciano Salonga, will be delivered to Greece.
Aside from President Arroyo, Korean ambassador
Jong Ki Hong and Greek ambassador Georges Chrysostomos Nicolaidis
attended the ceremony on Friday.
The President was welcomed at the Hanjin
shipyard by HHIC-Phil Chairman Nam Ho Cho, HHIC-Phil President Jeong
Sup Shim, Sec. Edgardo Pamintuan of the Subic-Clark Alliance for
Development (SCAD), Zambales Gov. Amor Deloso, and SBMA officials
led by Salonga and Administrator Armand Arreza.
Hanjin officials said the MV Argolikos has a
market price of about US$60 million.
It weighs 41,000 tons, has a length of 258.9
meters, a width of 32 meters, a height of 19 meters, and an actual
speed of 24.6 knots.
The ship underwent the required sea trials on
May 27 to 29, and “performed well beyond expectations,” said
Pyeong Jong Yu, head of HHIC-Phil’s Outside Business Department.
Yu also said that prior to the sea trial, the
vessel was issued an attestation from the Bureau Veritas, a vessel
certification agency.
Hanjin also secured for the ship a cargo ship
safety equipment certificate, a complete crew list, and a
certificate of competency for the Korean crew from the Busan
Regional Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Office, Yu added.
Salonga said meanwhile that MV Argolikos has
made local maritime history when it was completed six months ahead
of schedule after the keel was laid in September last year.
“This is where big ships for exports to
other countries will be made,” he said.
-- Anthony Bayarong
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