Philippine Islands News

U.S. private equity firm Cerberus will acquire for $300 million a debt-laden shipyard in the Philippines at a former U.S. navy base close to the South China Sea, the facility's trustee and two sources with knowledge of the deal said on Tuesday.The fate of the strategically located Subic Bay shipyard has been a national security concern for defense chiefs, with fears it could be taken over by state-run firms from China, with which the Philippines has a long history of mistrust.In 2019…

South Korea’s Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd. (HHIC) has partnered with Yuchengco group-led construction firm EEI Corp in Philippines.In a stock exchange announcement, EEI said that it formed a partnership with HHIC for upcoming construction projects. No other details were provided by both companies regarding the deal.The two companies have previously teamed up for local projects such as the Berth 6 Manila International Container Project.According to a report in Inquirer, the strategic alliance is seen to make use of HHIC’s special intellectual property in underground infrastructure, railway and airport construction projects.

All offers from potential buyers of a strategically located but debt-laden Philippine shipyard will be welcome, the trade minister said on Thursday, ruling out barring Chinese firms over national security fears.Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the government would not, and could not, block interested buyers of distressed shipbuilder Hanjin Philippines, which defaulted on $1.3 billion in loans, of which $900 million is owed to South Korean banks and the rest to five Philippine lenders.Hanjin, a unit of South Korea's Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co Ltd, until recently employed 20,000 workers at its yard in Subic Bay, which until 1992 was home to a U.S.

The troubled South Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co said that it has reached an agreement with Philippine banks on debt-rescheduling for its Philippine affiliate HHIC-Phil, Southeast Asia’s largest shipyard by area size.Philippine creditors agreed to acquire shares of Hanjin Heavy, HHIC-Phil Inc., which operates the yard in Subic Bay, in return for solving surely obligations. This means the scheme includes a debt-for-equity swap with Philippine lenders, it added.Hanjin said the deal would be submitted to a Philippine court by the end of this month. HHIC-Phil, a debt-stricken shipyard in Subic, has applied for a rehabilitation program.Nikkei quoted HHIC saying that Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation…

The exposure of five Philippine banks to financially distressed Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co. Philippines (HHIC-Phil), which recently declared bankruptcy after it defaulted on over $400 million in loans, could put pressure on their credit ratings.Their exposure to what may well be the largest corporate default in Philippine banking history may put pressure on the credit ratings of local lenders, Fitch Ratings said.According to reports, Hanjin owes $412 million to Philippine banks. Another $900 million is owed to Korean banks. So far, little is known about these debts and how the actual value of the assets of the company relate to its capacity to repay.“Local banks’ loans to HHIC-Phil are equivalent to only around 0.2 percent of system loans…

Piracy increased on the world’s seas in 2018, with a marked rise in attacks against ships and crews around West Africa, the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) latest annual piracy report reveals.Worldwide, the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) recorded 201 incidents of maritime piracy and armed robbery in 2018, up from 180 in 2017.The Gulf of Guinea remains increasingly dangerous for seafarers. Reports of attacks in waters between the Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo more than doubled in 2018, accounting for all six hijackings worldwide, 13 of the 18 ships fired upon, 130 of the 141 hostages taken globally, and 78 of 83 seafarers kidnapped for ransom.The region saw a significant new spike in violence in the last quarter of 2018.

1814 - During the War of 1812, the sloop-of-war, Wasp captures and burns the British merchant brig, HMS Bacchus, in the Atlantic. A week later, she captures the brig, Atlanta. 1899 - During the Philippine Insurrection Campaign, the gunboat, USS Concord, and the monitor, USS Monterey, capture two insurgent schooners at Aparri, Philippine Islands. 1944 - USS Ludlow (DD 438) fires at an enemy shore battery and also fires direct hits on enemy vessels off Imperia. 1952 - USS Lewis (DE 535) and USS Evansville (PF 70) are fired on by enemy shore batteries off Wonsan, Korea. Their counter-batteries silence the enemy guns. 1971 - USS Wiltsie (DD 716) spots a crippled A-7 Corsair plunging into the Gulf of Tonkin and rescues the pilot from the water.

Bollinger Shipyards has delivered the 19th Fast Response Cutter (FRC), USCGC Rollin Fritch, to the U.S. Coast Guard. The 154-foot patrol craft USCGC Rollin Fritch is the 19th vessel in the Coast Guard's Sentinel-class FRC program. All previous cutters have been stationed in the 7th Coast Guard District in Florida or San Juan, Puerto Rico. The decision to homeport the Rollin Fritch in Cape May, N.J. is significant because it expands the footprint of FRC operations beyond the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Eventually FRCs will be stationed in virtually every coastal state.

1804 - The brig USS Syren (Siren), commanded by Lt. Charles Stewart, captures the Tripolitan brig Transfer off the coast of Tripoli, renaming it Scourge after being taken into US Navy service. 1903 - The Honduras Expedition, made up with USS Marietta, USS Olympia, USS Panther, USS Raleigh, and USS San Francisco, embark and operate in Honduran waters during a period of civil strife. 1917 - Loretta Walsh becomes the first woman Navy petty officer when sworn in as chief yeoman. 1943 - USS Herring (SS 233) sinks the German submarine U 163 off the Bay of Biscay. The sub was responsible for sinking USS Erie (PG 50) on Nov. 14, 1942. 1944 - USS Angler (SS 240) completes the evacuation of 58 U.S. citizens, including women and children, from the west coast of Panay, Philippine Islands.

September 21 1858 - Sloop Niagara departs Charleston, SC, for Liberia with African slaves rescued from slave ship. 1923 - Asiatic Fleet completes mission of aiding earthquake victims in Japan. 1939 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress to repeal the arms embargo provision of the Neutrality Act. 1944 - Aircraft from 12 carriers commence 2-day attack against Japanese ships and airfields on Luzon, Philippine Islands. 1984 - Mid East Force begins escort of U.S. flagged vessels in Persian Gulf.

1876-The British ship Circassian was destroyed off Bridgehampton, Long Island, following a successful rescue of 49 persons on December 11 by the Life-Saving Service. During later salvage operations in a storm the ship drifted out of the sand, resulting in the loss of 28 of its salvage crew including 12 Shinnecock Indians. 1944-Coast Guard-manned USS FS-367 rescued survivors from USS Maripopsa at San Jose, Mindoro, Philippine Islands. 1958- The 590-foot tanker African Queen ran aground and split in two 10 miles off Ocean City, Maryland. Within two hours 15 helicopters from the nearby Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corps bases evacuated all 47 crewmen successfully. The Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center at New York coordinated the operations.

1917- The French freighter Mont Blanc, loaded with 5,000 tons of high explosives, collided with the Norwegian steamer Imo in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The resulting fire detonated the munitions, killing 1,635 people and leveling much of Halifax and its environs. Coast Guardsmen from the CGC Morrill were landed to provide assistance. This disaster led to the creation of captains of the ports for the major U.S. ports. The Coast Guard was tasked with the new duty. 1918-Surfman L. E. Ashton of Station No. 305 in Nome, Alaska, departed his station with a dog sled and team loaded with medical supplies along with one other surfman on an expedition to assist natives who were suffering from influenza at Cape Prince of Wales, 160 miles from Nome and at villages between the two settlements.

1892-After ten years of difficult and costly construction, the St. George Reef Lighthouse, built on a rock lying six miles off the northern coast of California, midway between Capes Mendocino and Bianco, was first lighted. 1944-Landings on Leyte, Philippine Islands. Many Coast Guard units participated in the landings, which marked the the fulfillment of General Douglas MacArthur's promise to the Filipino people that he would return to liberate them from the Japanese. 1950- President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order "activating" the Magnuson Act, which had been passed by Congress earlier that month. This act, authorizing the president to invoke the Espionage Act of 1917, tasked the Coast Guard with the port security mission.

1858 - Sloop Niagara departs Charleston, SC, for Liberia with African slaves rescued from slave ship. 1923 - Asiatic Fleet completes mission of aiding earthquake victims in Japan. 1939 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress to repeal the arms embargo provision of the Neutrality Act. 1944 - Aircraft from 12 carriers commence 2-day attack against Japanese ships and airfields on Luzon, Philippine Islands. 1984 - Mid East Force begins escort of U.S. flagged vessels in Persian Gulf. (Source: Navy News Service)

1899 - Gunboat Concord and monitor Monterey capture two insurgent schooners at Aparri, Philippine Islands 1939 - Atlantic Squadron Neutrality Patrol ships deploy (Source: Navy News Service)

1813-Revenue Cutterman John Bearbere died of pneumonia while being held as a Prisoner of War by the British after his cutter, the James Madison, had been captured by the Royal Navy frigate HMS Barbadoes near Savannah, Georgia on 24 November 1812 during the War of 1812. He was one of five of those captured aboard the cutter who died in captivity. The James Madison had only recently captured and seized the 300-ton, six-gun British brig Shamrock in July, 1812. 1947-The Coast Guard announced the disestablishment of all U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine Details in foreign ports. During World War II, a total of 36 foreign Merchant Marine Details…

The ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre issued an Incident Update stating that the crew of the tug boat Atlantic 3 have been found alive. Contact was lost with the tug and its barge on April 27 while they were transiting near Pulau Bintan, Indonesia. On May 3, the Vietnamese Navy rescued the nine crewmembers of the tug from a life raft near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. It has been assessed that the pirates who hijacked the tug and its tow are headed toward the Philippine Islands. (5/7/10). (Source: Bryant’s Maritime News)

1876-The British ship Circassian was destroyed off Bridgehampton, Long Island, following a successful rescue of 49 persons on December 11 by the Life-Saving Service. During later salvage operations in a storm the ship drifted out of the sand, resulting in the loss of 28 of its salvage crew including 12 Shinnecock Indians. 1944-Coast Guard-manned USS FS-367 rescued survivors from USS Maripopsa at San Jose, Mindoro, Philippine Islands. 1958- The 590-foot tanker African Queen ran aground and split in two 10 miles off Ocean City, Maryland. Within two hours 15 helicopters from the nearby Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corps bases evacuated all 47 crewmen successfully. The Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center at New York coordinated the operations.

Oil skimming was suspended this weekend as bad weather moved toward the site where the tanker T/V BOW MARINER exploded and sank off the Virginia coast Saturday night. Helicopter over-flights showed the oil was mostly in thin sheens on the water, strung out in long streamers, and widely separated, limiting the amount the skimming vessel, the VIRGINIA RESPONDER, was able to recover. The sixth and final member of the crew was released from Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. All of the survivors have had an opportunity to meet with diplomatic officials from their native Philippine Islands, and have had an opportunity to call their families. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel RUDE made a second attempt to obtain images of the sunken vessel with its side-scan sonar.

1899 - Gunboat Concord and monitor Monterey capture two insurgent schooners at Aparri, Philippine Islands 1939 - Atlantic Squadron Neutrality Patrol ships deploy (Source: Navy News Source)

1858 - Sloop Niagara departs Charleston, SC, for Liberia with African slaves rescued from slave ship. 1923 - Asiatic Fleet completes mission of aiding earthquake victims in Japan. 1939 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress to repeal the arms embargo provision of the Neutrality Act. 1944 - Aircraft from 12 carriers commence 2-day attack against Japanese ships and airfields on Luzon, Philippine Islands. 1984 - Mid East Force begins escort of U.S. flagged vessels in Persian Gulf. (Source: Navy News Service)

1892-After ten years of difficult and costly construction, the St. George Reef Lighthouse, built on a rock lying six miles off the northern coast of California, midway between Capes Mendocino and Bianco, was first lighted. 1944-Landings on Leyte, Philippine Islands. Many Coast Guard units participated in the landings, which marked the the fulfillment of General Douglas MacArthur's promise to the Filipino people that he would return to liberate them from the Japanese. 1950- President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order "activating" the Magnuson Act, which had been passed by Congress earlier that month. This act, authorizing the president to invoke the Espionage Act of 1917, tasked the Coast Guard with the port security mission.

1835-The superintendent of the lighthouse system wrote to Winslow Lewis, "I perceive by a Mobile paper which I received this morning that the Mobile Point light has been fitted by you as a revolving light" similar to the nearby Pensacola lighthouse. "I am very sorry that you have don so." Lewis was a contractor who -- almost by himself -- virtually controlled the administration of the lighthouse system. The incident helped cause a Congressional investigation that ultimately created a modern lighthouse system in this country. 1839-Near Gloucester, Massachusetts, a storm from the southeast caught and dragged ashore or drove to sea over fifty vessels.