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Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Echaves: Cebuano craftmanship once more
By Lelani P. Echaves
I’ve been observing them as they took shape and form, and started opening up to the sky. You can’t miss them as you head for SM City, especially now that the rains have been pouring strong and long. Are these five big funnels at the Cebu International Port (CIP) some kind of water catchment?
Not water catch-ments, I’m told, but thickeners. Hmmm. Swoop back to my cooking years while pursuing my first college degree in Foods and Nutrition at the University of Southern Philippines. Thickeners, as in flour, cornstarch, tapioca, agar-agar, gelatin, eggs, chocolate and dairy—ingredients that add substance and body to sauces, stews, gravies, soups, puddings, pie fillings and other dishes? Wow! Are those funnels for the world’s food needs?
Not quite, as my good friend Zeny Novabos and engineer Jonathan “Atan” Bendebel patiently gave me a tour of the five big funnels housed at the CIP last weekend. Zeny is the chief information officer and assistant vice president for procurement at the Aboitiz Construction Group Inc. - Metaphil Division. “Atan” is the senior project manager. And these five thickeners have been ordered by the Australia-based Outokumpu Technology Pty. Ltd. for New Caledonia.
New Caledonia lies between Vanuatu and Queensland, Australia, northwest of New Zealand, and has nickel mining and smelting for major industries. It has more than 20 percent of the world’s known nickel resources.
As explained by Outukumpu’s project manager Barrie MacNaughton, thickeners are gravity separation devices meant to separate solids from dilute slurries. Depending on the behavior of the minerals, separation is based on gravity, flotation, magnetism or leaching.
As it turned out, the thickeners project is another showcase of 100 percent Filipino craftsmanship. Unpublicized and unknown to many, these recent works have been painstakingly put together in great detail and with all care by a hundred workers, all Cebuanos.
The fabrication of each thickener takes three months, using the skilled hands of 20 fitters, welders and helpers. Assembly work takes another two months. Measuring 20 meters in diameter and 25 meters in height, each thickener costs P17 million for fabrication and another P12 million for assembly.
The big thrill, according to Metaphil’s vice president and chief finance officer Iker Aboitiz, is in transporting these massive structures of steel to their country of destination. Imagine, each thickener weighs 250 tons, and all the five thickeners will be transported by vessel across the seas to New Caledonia. Each thickener will first be lifted by a hydraulic trailer from the CIP towards the portside of the pier. From there, it shall be transported by a big lift on to the international vessel.
While this will be a sight to behold, it’s not the first-ever for Metaphil’s skilled workers, according to engineers Wilfredo Aliviado, project-in-charge, and Sherwin Plete, project control. The first project was in 2003 when 10 thickeners were made for Coral Bay Nickel Corp., a $180-million nickel mining and refinery processing project in Rio Tuba, municipality of Bataraza, at the southernmost tip of Palawan.
In fact, those thickeners had diameters of 27 meters each. The only difference between the New Caledonia and Rio Tuba projects is that the assembly for the latter was in Rio Tuba itself.
In fitting tribute to Cebuano craftsmanship, a repeat order is underway for another 10 thickeners. This could be in line with Coral Bay’s plans to expand its annual output in the next two to three years. The increased output, according to a Manila Standard report, is expected to create a steady supply of nickel for Japan’s growing industries and meet higher demand for nickel-bearing scrap products. Moreover, it will help stabilize nickel prices and strong demand from India, China and the United States.
(lelani.echaves@gmail.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 5, 2006 issue)
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