Hanjin ensures safety of Pinoy workers in Subic

The management of the South Korean firm Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines Inc. assured President Gloria Arroyo on Thursday that Filipino workers in its shipyard in Subic Bay Freeport are safe.

Hanjin President Jung Sub Shim told President Arroyo that his company has carried out safety measures in the shipyard to reduce the number of accidents happening in the workplace. He said there has not been a single fatality last year since they implemented these actions.

President Arroyo visited Hanjin Shipyard at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), which serves as the northwestern anchor of Urban Luzon Beltway (ULB). The President has been in a Super Regions legacy tour starting this week.

Hanjin has the capability to build large ocean-going vessels. Last year, the Korean firm delivered the first of such ships, a 41,000-ton, $60-million container vessel named MV Argolikos, to its Greek client Dioryx. The biggest world-class ship so far built in the Philippines, Argolikos is one of six units lined up for delivery to Dioryx.

SBMA is connected to the countryÕs premier industrial region composed of Central Luzon, Metro Manila and Southern Luzon through four tollways: the 93.7-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), and the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR).

Described as flagship of the PresidentÕs Super Regions, ULB has already led to the creation of some 150,000 jobs on the Subic-Clark corridor.

Hanjin, which now ranks as the fourth largest shipyard in the world, has generated more than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs. It has also set up a P240-million skills development center, which can accommodate 500 to 1,000 trainees per batch. –Angelo S. Samonte, Manila Times