HD Hyundai Kicks Off First Shipbuilding Project In Philippines With Steel-Cutting Ceremony

September 3rd, 2025

Image Credits: HD KSOE

HD Hyundai began shipbuilding operations in the Philippines with its first steel-cutting ceremony at the Subic Bay shipyard, officially named HD Hyundai Philippines Shipyard, on September 2. The event launched the construction of a 115,000-ton petrochemical carrier, the first vessel to be built at the new facility.

The ship is the lead vessel in a series of four petrochemical carriers ordered in December 2023 by a shipping company based in Asia.

The ceremony was attended by Ferdinand Marcos Jr., President of the Philippines; Lee Sang-hwa, Korean Ambassador to the Philippines; MaryKay Carlson, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines; and Kim Sung-joon, CEO of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE).

HD KSOE, the intermediate holding company of HD Hyundai’s shipbuilding and offshore engineering division, signed a lease agreement in May 2023 with Cerberus Capital to operate part of the Subic shipyard site.

The facility became HD Hyundai’s second overseas shipyard after the company successfully launched HD Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding in Khanh Hoa Province in 1996. Over the years, the Vietnam site has grown into Southeast Asia’s largest shipyard, with the ability to build more than 10 vessels annually.

HD Hyundai also plans to use the Subic Bay shipyard as a hub for strengthening economic and security cooperation between South Korea, the United States, and the Philippines.

In 2022, its subsidiary HD Hyundai Heavy Industries had already set up a logistics support center in the Philippines to provide maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for frigates, patrol vessels, and other naval ships delivered to the Philippine government.

HD KSOE aims to position the shipyard as an important base for the Make American Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA) initiative. The company expects to improve efficiency by linking the Philippines facility with its other overseas sites.

The Subic Bay yard is strategically located near HD Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding and the planned HD Hyundai Vina shipyard in Vietnam, as well as a new investment entity in Singapore that the company announced on August 27, 2024. Through these links, the Philippines yard will be able to share supply chains for ship blocks and tanks and coordinate workforce operations across the region.

On August 25, just before the steel-cutting ceremony, HD Hyundai also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Cerberus Capital and Korea Development Bank to establish the Korea-U.S. Maritime Investment Partnership. This was the first collaboration announced since the MASGA project was launched.

Reference: hdksoe

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