The Philippines government is seriously considering buying the restructuring Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction (HHIC) shipyard in Subic Bay.
President Rodrigo Duterte is “very receptive” to the idea, according to defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
“While we sympathise with the financial woes of Hanjin, we are excited by this development because we see the possibility of having our own shipbuilding capacity in the Philippines, especially large ships like what is being built by Hanjin in Subic,” Lorenzana said, according to the Inquirer daily.
“I said ‘why not take over the Hanjin and give it to the navy to manage?’ So I brought this idea to the president last night and he is very receptive to the idea,” he added.
Lorenzana suggested that the government could be a minority owner while a private company could have a majority stake.
“This is really perfect for us. We are actually ordering ships from abroad and if you can take this over then we can build our own ships here. The Coast Guard is also in need of ships for their use. So why not?” Lorenzana said.
The Korean-owned yard filed for court rehabilitation earlier this month. It is said to have defaulted on loans worth $400m as orders declined.
It has been reported that two Chinese shipbuilders have expressed an interest in buying the facility.
The yard won eight new contracts last year: aframaxes for CMB, Cukurova Holding and Eastern Pacific, according to Clarksons.
Deliveries run into 2021.
