Aboitiz hints FBMA shipyard may re-open

CEBU, Philippines - While the Philippines still remains as the fourth largest shipbuilder in the world, the Aboitiz Group partly owned FBMA Marine Inc., is considering to re-open the facility that was closed in 2009.

FBMA Marine Inc., chairman Roberto Aboitiz said that the company is not entirely giving up the business, “we remain optimistic that the shipbuilding industry will bounce back,” Aboitiz said.

When the overseas orders will start to come in, Aboitiz said that shipyard will be re-opened, although there is no definite time yet.

In 2009, FBMA Marine Inc., announced the closure of the facility located at the West Cebu Industrial Park (WCIP), because of the declining orders from its clients abroad.

This time, while the market is seen to be re-covering Aboitiz said it is possible to re-open the facility, “perhaps not anytime soon, but in the future.”

At this point, the property of the closed shipyard is open for lease. He said the property is getting inquiries from interested lessees, but no formal negotiations yet. 

Because of the available high-skilled shipbuilders in Cebu, there are also some interest shipbuilding companies that are looking at opening facility at the Park.

“We still want the shipyard to be used again,” he said.

FBMA is the only shipbuilding facility for catamarans or fast crafts in the Visayas. It was established in 1997 and builds high-speed ferries, roll-on, roll-off vessels and other specialty vessels for countries in Europe, Asia and Australia.

The first vessel constructed by 15-year-old FBMA was a 50-knots 45-meter Tricat for the Hong Kong-Macau route.

It has delivered 22 vessels to different countries since 1997, such as Europe, United States, Australia, and some parts of Asia.

FBMA 's last delivery was in September 2008, a catamaran for a company in New Caledonia.

FBMA started operating 15 years ago in Balamban town in west Cebu, specializing in building fast passenger and utility vessels for clients abroad. Its clients included US Defense contractor Lockheed-Martin, Smit International and the UK Ministry of Defense as well as Rederij Doeksen, among others.

However, although the company has stopped operations, he said the company is still continuously negotiating or communicating with bigger ship building companies to pursue possible partnerships.

What remains to be the edge of Cebu in the world’s shipbuilding industry is the availability of skilled-workers, he reiterated. The reason why the Philippines, is still the fourth largest ship-builder in the world, closely competing with Korea, China, and Japan.