Austal favored to land Subic yard

An Australian shipbuilder with strong ties to the U.S. Navy (parent company of Austal USA in Alabama) is favored to assume control of the Philippines’ Subic Bay shipyard, where it plans to build and service U.S. warships. Austal, based in Western Australia, and U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management are in the running to take over the yard from Hanjin Shipping, a South Korean firm that went bankrupt in 2016. Subic Bay was for decades a key U.S. base before the Navy’s departure in 1992. A pair of Chinese companies signaled interest in Subic Bay last year, but media reports suggest the Austal-Cerberus bid may be the strongest. Austal operates a shipyard in Australia and, under a special security agreement, in Mobile, Ala., where it builds littoral combat ships and expeditionary fast transport ships for the U.S. Navy. The company already has an extensive operation at shipyards on the fringes of the South China Sea, and a service center in Singapore, where the littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) is deployed. The LCS was built at Austal USA’s shipyard in Mobile. (Source: Stars & Stripes 06/15/20) https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/australian-shipbuilder-teams-with-us-firm-in-bid-to-take-over-subic-bay-shipyard-1.633908