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SUBIC
BAY FREEPORT—The MV Argolikos, the first oceangoing
vessel built by Hanjin Heavy Industries
Corp.-Philippines in its shipyard here, has passed the
required sea trial—a series of tests to determine the
performance and general seaworthiness of a ship prior to
its delivery.
Pyeong
Jong Yu, outside business department manager of Hanjin
Heavy, which is in charge of the firm’s external
relations, said in a letter to Subic Bay Metropolitan
Authority (SBMA) chairman Feliciano Salonga that the
Argolikos performed “well beyond expectations” during
her sea trial from May 27 to May 29.
Yu did
not specify the tests the Argolikos underwent, but the
so-called “builders trials” for newly built ships
normally measure a vessel’s speed and maneuverability,
as well as the working conditions of its equipment,
navigation systems and safety features.
Such
trials are also conducted in open sea, usually with the
builder’s technicians and engineers, certification
officials and representatives of the ship’s owner.
According to Yu, the series of tests the Argolikos
underwent were witnessed by representatives of Dioryx
Maritime Corp.—the Greek shipping firm which is
scheduled to receive Hanjin Heavy’s first ship
delivery—and Bureau Veritas, a Paris-based conformity
assessment, certification, inspection and testing firm.
The
tests started at
7 a.m. on May 27 and lasted until
11 a.m.
on May 29, Yu added.“It is worthy to note that the
required speed as per contract is 24.5 knots, but the
ship’s actual speed is 24.6 knots,” Yu said in his
letter.
“We are
pleased to inform you that the owner’s representative
on- board, and Bureau Veritas, remarked that the ship
performed well beyond their expectations,” You also told
Salonga.
Salonga,
who periodically receives updates from Hanjin Heavy
about the firm’s first shipbuilding project here, said
earlier that MV Argolikos will be used as a container
ship. The ship weighs 41,000 tons, is 258.9 meters long
and has a width of 32 meters and a height of 19 meters.
These
numbers classify Argolikos as a panamax dry-bulk
carrier, the second-biggest type of dry-bulk vessels
after the capesize, according to the vessel-size groups
published by Lloyd’s Register.
Salonga
also said the Argolikos—the first of six vessels of the
same type reportedly ordered by Dioryx from Hanjin Heavy
here—has a market value of $60 million. The price falls
with the vicinity of panamax ship prices quoted in 2007
by Clarkson Research, an England-based shipping
intelligence provider.
Yu said
that prior to the sea trial, the Argolikos had been
issued an attestation by Bureau Veritas.
Hanjin
has also secured for the container carrier a cargo ship
safety equipment certificate, a complete crew list and a
certificate of competency of the Korean crew from
Korea’s
Busan Regional Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Office, Yu
added.
Aside
from being the first ship to be made in
Subic, the Argolikos is also the first container ship to be built
in the country, Salonga said.
“Cebu is
ahead of us [with the Japanese-owned Tsuneishi shipyard
in Balamban having delivered at least 77 vessels, mostly
bulk carriers, since 1994], but the largest and first
container carrier is from
Subic. This is
where big ships for exports to other countries will be
made,” Salonga said.
“So this
is history,” Salonga added, citing Hanjin Heavy for
completing the Argolikos six months ahead of schedule.
Hanjin
Heavy’s Subic shipyard is also set to build some of
world’s largest container ships with gross tonnage of
around 100,000 tons. |
