My Father's Gifts

After many years of obtaining/refitting war surplus ships, the national shipping fleet marked a major milestone in the building of its own ships. The M/V General Roxas and the M/V Benito Lopez, launched in 1959 and 1960, were built by the National Shipyards and Steel Corporation headed by Jack Abrera. Described as the first locally built ships, both ships were considered luxury liners (with air-conditioning!). General Shipping Corporation acquired M/V General Roxas; Southern Lines had M/V Governor Benito Lopez as its flagship.

Where are the ships now? In the mid-sixties, General Shipping sold the M/V General Roxas to the Sweet Lines. M/V Roxas emerged as the Sweet Rose , the historic ship then plying the Cebu-Tagbilaran route. M/V Governor Benito Lopez, in turn, became part off the Carlos A. Gothong Lines, and was renamed as XXX.

in Japan

For the shipping industry to be viable, the country needed steel. Tired of merely being the source of raw minerals, the country sought to have its own capacity to add value, investing in capacity to transform these materials into manufactured steel. This was the aspiration of IISMI.

The IISMI has had a checkered life.

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