HD Hyundai Heavy Industries plans to launch its shipbuilding business in the Philippines in January 2026. The renovated and upgraded Subic Shipyard in the Philippines will have an annual production capacity of up to 10 ships.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has signed a 10-year lease agreement for 200 hectares of land with Agila Subic, a subsidiary of US private equity giant Cerberus that operates the Subic Shipyard, and plans to invest approximately US$550 million over the next 10 years.
The Subic shipyard will initially build product oil tankers for HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, with an estimated construction period of 16 to 18 months per ship.
To accelerate the commissioning of the Subic shipyard, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has hired 3,500 workers and is currently training welders and other trades. At full capacity, the Subic shipyard is expected to hire approximately 7,000 workers.
The Subic Shipyard, formerly owned by South Korea’s HJ Heavy Industries (formerly HANJIN Heavy Industries & Construction, HHIC), employed 13,000 workers before halting operations in 2019 due to a debt crisis. Much of the infrastructure built during the HHIC era, including the heavy cranes, remains today after being acquired by Cerberus from creditors.
Philippine President Marcos praised HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ entry into the Subic Shipyard and the restart of the shipbuilding industry, calling it an opportunity to “bring shipbuilding back to Subic” and ensure that “ships operated by Filipinos can also be built by Filipinos.”
As the world’s largest source of seafarers, the Philippines ranked seventh in global shipbuilding output in 2022, far below its previous capacity. Therefore, the Philippine government hopes to revitalize the competitiveness of the country’s shipbuilding industry by combining South Korean shipbuilding technology with Philippine labor through cooperation with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Public records indicate that Subic Shipyard was established in 2006 by South Korean shipbuilder HJ Heavy Industries, and it once developed into one of the world’s top five shipyards, being the largest shipyard in Southeast Asia at the time in terms of land area. The shipyard is located on the north side of Subic Bay and mainly builds large container ships, gas carriers and oil tankers. It delivered its first newly built ship in 2008, and at its peak, the shipyard employed over 20,000 people.
In April 2022, Cerberus acquired the Subic Shipyard for US$300 million with a 50-year lease. At that time, the shipyard had been bankrupt for three years. Cerberus then invested US$40 million to revive the business. In August 2025, Cerberus announced that it would invest US$250 million over the next 12 months to strengthen its business layout in the Philippines, including the upgrade and renovation of the Subic Shipyard.
Currently, the Subic Shipyard’s major tenants include HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, submarine fiber optic data cable manufacturer SubCom, listed logistics company V2X, and the Philippine Navy.
It is reported that the restart of the Subic Shipyard has begun to attract orders from shipowners, including two LR2 tankers scheduled for delivery by Japan’s Nissen Kaiun in the first quarter of 2028, and four tankers from Hong Kong’s Cido Shipping.