Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp.-Philippines (HHIC) recorded a milestone as it unveiled its first oil tanker on Friday naming ceremony inside the Hanjin compound at the Redondo Peninsula in Subic Bay freeport.

The 114,000-deadweight ton tanker with a price tag of $68 million was named “Leyla K” by its Turkish owners, the Kaptanoglu Shipping Line.

Hanjin officials said it is the first and biggest oil crude tanker ever built in the Philippines.

Leyla K measures 241.3-meters in length and 44-meters in breadth. The first steel for the ship was cut on November 2008, while its keel was laid on May 2009. The ship was launched last October.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chairman Feliciano Salonga, who witnessed the naming ceremony along with SBMA administrator Armand Arreza and Zambales Gov. Amor Deloso, was visibly impressed by record-setting event by Hanjin, as well as the growing skill of its Filipino employees.

The naming ceremony was also attended by HHIC-Philippines president Seung Chil Lee and staff, representatives of the ship classification society Lloyd Register, and officers of the Turkish shipping line Kaptanoglu, headed by Engin Kaptanoglu, who ordered the vessel from Hanjin.

Salonga said the production of the first oil tanker marks a new era for Subic.

“Subic Bay Freeport is now in the big league of shipbuilding,” Salonga said.

“I won’t be surprised if (Hanjin) will start constructing several oil tankers at the same time. Our Filipino workers are getting the hang of shipbuilding, and it won’t be long before Filipino shipbuilders will be famous in this industry,” Salonga added.

The $1.7-billion Hanjin shipyard at the Subic Bay Freeport is now the world’s fourth largest shipbuilding facility and currently employs 17,000 workers.

Salonga said that as of end-2009, Hanjin has produced eight container and bulk vessels.