Hanjin finish 2nd largest oil tanker built in Subic

Hanjin Heavy Industries Corporation-Philippines on Wednesday sent off the 2^nd biggest oil tanker made in the country today.

So far M/T Eser K is the 12^th ship that Hanjijn built since it started to operate in Subic Bay Freeport in 2006.

HHIC formally turned over M/T Eser K to its owner, the turkey-based Kaptanoglu Shipping Line Wednesday.

Those who graced the naming ceremony were Kaptanoglu president Engin Kaptanoglu, representatives of the ship classification society Lloyds Register, HHIC-Phil president Seung Chil Lee, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) senior deputy administrator Ramon Agregado, and other company officials.

HHIC-Phil senior executive vice-president Hyun Soo Bong said that M/T Eser K and its twin, the M/T Leyla K, were the biggest ships ever built in the Philippines.

(Officials of Kaptanoglu Shipping Line, Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp.-Philippines, and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority proudly pose before the M/T Eser K, a 14,000-DWT oil tanker, which is one of the two biggest ships to be built in the Philippines. Photo by Anthony Bayarong)

Eser K and Leyla K, which was delivered in January this year, both tipped the scales at 114,000-DWT, and measured 241.27 meters long, 44 meter wide, and 21.35 meters deep.

Eser K is priced at $68 million.

“Eser K is the last tanker we built for Kaptanoglu, but I would like to emphasize that this is another beginning for us as we develop sincere relationships and strengthen this partnership between Kaptanoglu and Hanjin-Philippines,” said Hyun.

“With the successful completion of this project, we were able to prove that we have one of the finest shipyards that is capable of meeting all kinds of customer’s demand, not only in shape and size, but also in terms of quality and knowledge,” he added.

The Hanjin shipyard in Subic Bay shifted to full-scale operation recently, after the company completed its expansion program in 2009.

Despite the financial crisis that slowed down the shipbuilding industry in the last two years, HHIC-Phils said it has managed to bag contracts for the construction of 36 vessels by 2012. These include two 180,000-ton Capesize bulk carriers for Taiwan.

To date, HHIC-Phils has delivered a total of 12 vessels to various customers around the world.