COVER STORY

Exclusive Insights With

Engr. Sammuel T. Lim

THE IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON THE PHILIPPINES SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY

Could you share with us a bit about your experience in the maritime industry and a simple background of the association to our readers?

Engr. Sammuel T. Lim holds a degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from NAMEI Polytechnic Institute, Manila. He graduated Cum Laude in 1983 and set a record by topping the Philippine Licensure Examination for Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in the same year.

Engr. Lim has more than 30 years of experience in the shipping industry, having started as Assistant Field Supervisor for Citadel Carrier (Philippines), Technical Superintendent for Philippine President Lines, Inc. (Philippines), Hull and Engineer Surveyor and Quality Officer for Lloyd’s Register (Philippines), Quality Manager of IMC Pan Asia Alliance (Singapore), Quality Assurance Manager for Unithai Shipyard and Engineering Ltd. (Thailand), and Country Representative of IMC Shipping Co. Pte. Ltd. (Philippine Representative Office).

Presently, he is the Chairman of Great Southern Maritime Services Corp. and President of Great Swiss Shipping Corp.

He is also an active player in the industry. Engr. Lim was the Past President of the Filipino Association

www.philmarinenews.com for Mariners’ Employment (or FAME), the most prestigious and largest manning association and the Founding Chairman of the Joint Manning Group (or JMG) which is the federation of manning associations in the Philippines.

Engr. Lim is also the Chairman and Founding President of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (or SONAME) Inc.; Board Director of the Maritime Industry Authority of the Philippines, Member of the Technical Panel for Maritime Education and a Member of the STCW Advisory Council.

With the pandemic lasting almost a year, how have the local shipbuilding industry been coping? Are there any new projects that are still ongoing?

The local shipbuilding industry is greatly affected by the pandemic and the deep business slowdown as in most business during this pandemic. Although, shipping has been declared as part of essential business and continues to operate, the volume of cargo and passengers have steeply declined due to health concerns.

Existing projects are continuing but a lot of new projects are on a wait-and-see mode. Hopefully, with the vaccine introduction and roll-out which may take another year to have an effect on business, things would gradually improve.

Are there any government incentives given out to assist the local shipbuilders during these turbulent times?

Local shipbuilders during these trying times need financial assistance and very soft loans to tide them over. A few were reported to have totally stopped operations and laid off workers. There are legislative measures to make this happen but it is not clear yet on the scope and magnitude of these measures. Government should act faster.

Philippines was considered one of the largest shipbuilders in the world (#4) pre-covid, do you expect that position to change when Philippines embark on the recovery phase?

There will be definite change to this since Hanjin’s Subic shipyard has closed even before the pandemic and will affect the Philippine position.

2020 had posed many challenges in the international Maritime industry, in your opinion, what do you foresee in the Philippines shipbuilding industry between 2021 to 2022? And what type of hurdles could the local shipbuilders be facing on the rough route to recovery?

Tough times last year and more tough times ahead as it will still take a few years for the Philippines’ local ship building industry to recover given that vaccine roll-outs would not be a fast as planned eg. USA etc. and develop the herd immunity to normalize commerce. The main hurdle for shipbuilders is maintaining cash flow and unless government acts faster, the local ship building industry would continue to face difficult times.

What will be hopeful for this industry is that the Philippines and the world has a huge and growing population which will continue to spur world-wide and domestic trade, thus benefitting shipping and the ship building industry.