The Australian government is hopeful commercial negotiations for the possible takeover by Austal Philippines of the Hanjin shipbuilding facility in Subic would be finalized soon.
Australian ambassador to the Philippines in a virtual briefing on Monday said this would further expand Austal’s investments in the Philippines which had tripled the production capacity of its shipyard in Balamban, Cebu in 2019.
“Austal really wants to invest further and become a shipbuilder of choice for the Philippines and for the region, and we’ll (be) if that Hanjin facility comes to fruition,” said Robinson.
“I am hopeful there will be some progress made in the next month or two that will see a finalization of these negotiations.”
But Robinsons said he cannot elaborate since the discussions are commercial in nature.
Austal is one of the foreign companies that expressed interest to operate Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction-Phils. Inc.’s shipyard in Subic which halted operations due to financial woes.
Austal last month delivered Hull 419, a 109m high-speed catamaran ferry, to Fjord Line of Norway.
The vehicle-passenger ferry, named FSTR, is the largest aluminium vessel ever constructed in the Philippines — and currently the largest ferry (by volume) to be constructed by Austal, at any of the company’s shipyards worldwide.
Fjord Line’s FSTR is capable of transporting 1,200 passengers at up to 40 knots and features Austal’s largest ever vehicle-carrying capacity constructed to date, with a beam of 30.5 metres enabling 404 cars to be carried across two decks.
