ABOUT US
PETRO-BULK MILESTONES
Petro-Bulk's growth in the maritime service business was marked by a confluence of pioneering
opportunities and bold decisions on the part of its management.
In 1996, The company gained extensive experience in attending to tankers calling at the off-shore drilling sites of Alcorn Productions situated off Palawan island. Entering foreign-flag tankers and overseeing ship-to-ship operations of the country's First Crude production and shipment consigned to local and foreign buyers, Petro-Bulk marine agents were on hand to ensure smooth operations, with the support of the port authorities covering the region.
A foreign-flag LPG carrier ever to conduct the First Ship-to-Ship LPG Transfer Operations off the coast of Mariveles was attended and handled by Petro-Bulk's marine agents in March of 1997. Under the Philippine Coast Guard's strict observation, the safety training of Petro-Bulk's marine agents were instrumental to the successful execution of the operations proving that ship-to-ship transfer could be adopted as a mode of dischargin LPG products.
Petro-Bulk handled more than 500,000 metric tons of cement clinker and bulk/bagged cement fro the Philippine Cement Manufacturers (Philcemcor) at the height of a cement shortage in the 80's. The
cement products were imported from Indonesia under the ASEAN trade agreement program andlater from
and later from PROC.
In 1989, during the power shortage crisis in the Philippines which caused a setback among Philippine industries, medium-sized tankers were needed to move large volumes of fuel oil across the country.
Under Special Permit from the Philippine's Maritime Industry Authority exempting foreign-flag carriers from the country's Cabotage Law, Petro-Bulk Maritime attended to foreign-flag tankers loading and discharging within Philippine Waters.
Imported LPG product supplied by NAFTOMAR Shipping and Trading of Piraeus, Greece was exclusively handled by Petro-Bulk Maritime.
Petro-Bulk Maritime was also the First shipagent to utilize and establish a system of vessel attendance at the then newly-constructed Hyatt Oil Terminal (in Mariveles), where looping and bridging load/discharge operations were conducted from foreign-flag LPG carriers chartered by GEOGAS of Geneva. This system was utilized during the first year of the terminal's operation.
OWNER'S PROFILE
THE PRESIDENT
MR. RUBEN SANTOS is a graduate of the University of the Philippines (B.S. Chemical Engineering, 1962) with post graduate studies completed at Pennsylvania State University. U.S.A. (M.S. Ceramic Science). University of the Philippines (Master of Engineering in Chemical Engineering) and the Ateneo University (MBA). After working with the Presidential Management Staff for four years, he joined Esso (Philippines), Inc.
Highlights of his career includes his continuous service with the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) where he rose to the rank of Vice-President for Logistics, concurrent with his position as Vice-President for Corporate Planning. In addition to his long years in the petroleum industry, Mr. Santos' career and position gained him extensive exposures to the different PNOC subsidiaries in the field of Tanker Operation and Management, Coal Mining operations, Stevedoring, Trucking, and other Energy-affiliated sectors.
In 2000, he was again engaged by the government's Department of Energy as special Assistant to the Secretary of Energy.
In addition to his position as the President of Petro-Bulk Maritime, Mr. Santos is also a Director of Core Maritime Corporation, a Tanker-Owning company, where he olds the position of Vice-President for Finance. He is also known in the shipping circles in his capacity as a member of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Ship Agents Association and the Philippine Petroleum Shipowners and Tanker Operators Association, the government's recognized associations in shipagency and tanker owning.
THE MANAGING DIRECTOR
MR. RAOUL B. VIRAY is a graduate of the University of the Philippines with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. An active personality in the shipping industry circles where he spent most of his career, Mr. Viray's years of experience in maritime service-oriented businesses in the fields of Shipagency, Chartering, Bunkering. Shipbreaking, and Shipowning, has equipped him with a wider perspective of the development of the country's maritime industry.
Also concurrent with his position as Managing-Director of Petro-Bulk Maritime, Mr. Viray sits in the Board as a Director and as Vice-President for Business Development, of an affiliated Tanker Owning company called Core Maritime Corporation.
Mr. Viray is involved in various professional, social and sport organizations. Among them, he is currently a director of the Philippine Ship Agents Association where he served as it's president from 1986 to 1988, simultaneously as member of the Board of Governors of the Chamber of Maritime Industries of the Philippines (CMIP), as Past President of the U.P. Alpha Phi Omega Alumni Association, and as the Chairman Emeritus and active director of the Maritime Golf Association of the Philippines which he helped established 25 years ago to promote the sport in the country's maritime industry.