Philippine shipbuilder Herma launches coastal oil tanker Maringal

Philippine conglomerate Herma Group, through its shipbuilding arm Herma Shipyard (HSI), launched a new coastal oil tanker in a formal ceremony on Wednesday, May 16.

HSI built the tanker for sister company Herma Shipping and Transport Corporation (HSTC), a petroleum hauling service provider that operates throughout the Philippines.

Construction of the 86-metre by 13-metre, 3,000DWT vessel took place entirely at HSI’s Mariveles facilities in Bataan province some 170 kilometres north of Manila.

The American Bureau of Shipping-classed tanker has been christened Maringal (“stately”) following HSTC’s practice of naming its larger coastal tankers after Filipino virtues.

I represented Baird Maritime at the launching, which commenced at approximately 09:45 local time to take advantage of the high tide in Mariveles Bay.

Maringal is the newest addition to HSTC’s current fleet of seventeen ships which includes coastal oil tankers, self-propelled shallow-draught bay and river tanker barges, and small tugs.

The newly launched ship is the final one of five internationally-classed oil tankers built by HSI for HSTC.

The four other HSI-built internationally-classed tankers in the HSTC fleet are Matikas (“elegant”), Matapat (“faithful”), Malingap (“caring”), and Matipuno (“robust”), which were delivered between 2008 and 2017.