Herma group eyes 3 more double-hulled ships

June 17th, 2008 by Site Administrator

THE Filipino company Herma Shipping and Transport Corp. will follow up its successful launch of the “first Filipino-made international class tanker” M/T Matikas with three more such double-hulled vessels and is now in talks with several oil companies for the planned tankers. Matikas is now on long-term charter with Petron.

Herminio Esguerra, chairman of the Herma Group of Companies, said they foresee needing $50 million to be able to build the three future vessels at their 17-hectare shipyard in Bataan, so that they are currently in negotiations with petroleum companies. He did not name them but sources said they could include Chevron Corp., Caltex and Total Petroleum Philippines Corp.

“We may finance this through internally generated funds and through commercial banks,” he added at the sidelines of the media launch of m/t Matikas. In November, Herma will launch its second vessel capable of carrying 14,000 barrels of oil. It will be on long-term charter with Chevron.

Esguerra said they are also in talks with Chevron for a third boat that has a capacity of 40,000 barrels, and a fourth with Total for a 14,000-barrel vessel.

He said the fifth vessel in their shipyard lineup may be on charter with Philippine National Oil Co. Transport and Shipping Corp. should ongoing talks prove successful.

“All of these are double-hulled tankers. We will no longer manufacture single-hull,” he said. In any case, the international mandate is for double-hulled tankers only for all newly-minted tankers.

The $10-million 3,710-deadweight- ton Matikas, is classed by the American Bureau of Shipping and is compliant with international standards to handle persistent or “black” oil, oil that remains a long time in the environment.

Herma expects their success in shipbuilding could be a catalyst for the rebirth of shipbuilding in the country. At this time, he said most of the shipyards had been reduced to being just ship-repair facilities rather than builders of new ones.

From a small company with a rented barge and 10 employees in 1985, Herma Group has grown to be a multibillion-peso company with nine subsidiaries providing petroleum, maritime and environmental services to foreign and domestic industrial partners. It now has a fleet of 21 tankers and barges.

VG Cabuag, BusinessMirror