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Sunday, August 18, 2024 Vol. 19 No. 306
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SAVING SHIPS
SUBIC REPAIR FIRM CAPTURES GROWING NAVAL CUSTOMER BASE
FLOATING ASSET The Philippine Navy’s own floating drydock YD-204 (AFDL20) is floated back to the sea after its repair on SDC’s Floating Dock #2 in this July 2022 file photo. SUBIC DRYDOCK CORP.
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By Henry Empeño
UBIC BAY FREEPORT—With a growing number of repair and maintenance projects from the Philippine Navy and the United States Navy, the Subic Freeport-based ship repair company Subic Drydock Corp. (SDC) is establishing itself as a leading maintenance service provider for the military sector. Since January last year, the SDC has listed 30 ship repair projects for the United States Navy that ranged from a duration of seven to 176 days. These include 22 repair works for ships with “United States Naval Ship” (USNS) markings, and eight for those with “United States Ship” (USS) prefixes. The first category refers to civilian-manned vessels that are in active service, usually under the United States Navy’s Military Sealift Command (USN/MSC), while the second refers to ships commissioned for the US military. Both are owned by the US Navy. On the other hand, the Subic ship repairer has recorded working on nine Philippine Navy vessels that underwent eight afloat repair works and one drydocking project here since August last year. These jobs ranged from seven to 169 days. Diana Ross N. Mazo, SDC’s human resources chief and administrative manager, said the firm’s latest project is the recent overhaul of USNS Millinocket (T-EPF 3),
a Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport Ship based with MSC Far East, which delivers essential supplies, fuel, cargo, and equipment to combat personnel in the Indo-Pacific Region. SDC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Guam-based Cabras Marine Corp., began operating here in 2006. Mazo said it had since built a full-service shipyard employing some 250 experienced engineers and naval architects backed by a highly trained in-house and subcontractor workforce. As advances in technology, growing need for environment protection, maritime industry expansion, and ageing maritime fleets worldwide drive the market for ship repair and maintenance, Subic’s SDC finds itself in an enviable position of being able to further expand its customer base.
Keeping naval assets afloat
IN his recent visit to the Philippines, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III concluded his trip with a visit to Subic Bay, touring
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III gets a briefing on Subic Drydock Corp. by SDC senior production manager Tito Peralta and administrative chief Diana Ross Mazo on July 31, 2024. US
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III meets with crewmen aboard USNS Millinocket, which was undergoing repair at Subic Drydock Corp. facilities in the Subic Bay Freeport on July 31, 2024.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
USN/MSC
several defense industrial sites in the former US naval base, among them the SDC repair facility at the Approach Pier where he received a briefing from company officials. The defense chief also met with crewmembers of the Millinocket, along with the ship’s master, Navy civil service mariner Capt. Erwin F. Lao. The US Department of Defense (DoD) in a report said Austin’s Subic visit was “a way to highlight opportunities there for defense industrial cooperation by the United States, the Philippines, and other regional allies and partners.” “[W]e saw some of our industrial base companies out here working together to create additional capability, and that’s also very, very exciting,” the DoD further quoted Austin as saying. For the SDC, Austin’s visit underscored the company’s significant role in keeping naval assets afloat for the US military. “We
intend to expand on this visit to highlight the key aspects of Subic Drydock and promote SDC’s capabilities to serve a diverse customer base,” Mazo pointed out. SDC also provides both military and commercial domestic and international shipping companies with services ranging from drydocking and general services to engineering, mechanical and electrical repair, to logistics management, as well as comprehensive ship repair, modernization and conversion. To SC’s credit, overhauling the Millinocket is no mean feat. The 11-year-old vessel is a 338-footlong aluminum catamaran designed for rapid inter-theater troop transport and sea basing. According to the MSC, it can transport about 600 tons of military troops, supplies and equipment for 1,200 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots on jet propulsion. For the Millinocket overhaul,
which was completed in a contract period of 183 days, or from January 29 to July 31, 2024, SDC poured in 76,234 man-hours with 25 foreign technical representatives and 45 domestic technical workers and sub-contractors, Mazo said. “The whole project consisted of over 145 work items and 136 change orders covering underwater hull, habitability, machinery, piping, structural, preservation, electrical and electronic system repairs,” she explained. The Millinocket had previously availed itself of SDC services in previous years, MSC records show: a voyage repair from December 2 to 22, 2019; and two mid-term availability repairs: the first from April 15 to June 24, 2022, and the second from April 17 to June 17, 2023.
Body of repair works
MOST of the jobs SDC performed for the US Navy are voyage repairs, or emergency work needed to re-
pair damage sustained by a ship to enable it to continue with its mission. This was true in the case of the ocean surveillance vessel USNS Victorious (T-AGOS 19), which was completed on May 10 after 85 days, and the littoral combat ship USS Manchester (LCS-14), completed in seven days on February 15. On the other hand, mid-term availabilities are repair works required for vessels at approximately every 15 months. The regular overhauls are required for MSC ships every five years, according to the MSC in Japan. Mazo said that the SDC has also made its mark by undertaking repairs for Philippine Navy ships, among them the frigate BRP Andres Bonifacio (PS-17), which recently went back to patrol duties at the West Philippine Sea following an upgrade of its communications equipment and combat management system. Continued on A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 57.0360 n JAPAN 0.3820 n UK 73.3255 n HK 7.3162 n CHINA 7.9488 n SINGAPORE 43.1437 n AUSTRALIA 37.7008 n EU 62.5913 n KOREA 0.0418 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.1995 Source: BSP (August 16, 2024)