SembCorp to invest in second shipyard in Brazil

Sembcorp Marine said today that its unit Jurong Shipyard and Brazil’s WTorre Empreendimentos Imobilirios SA have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to form a joint-venture company to own and operate a shipyard in Brazil.

The terms of the deal are still being finalized, it said. The shipyard, which WTorre started constructing in November 2006 and due for completion in June 2008, will be SembCorp Marine’s second shipyard in Brazil. SembCorp Marine holds a stake in Maua Jurong, which operates a shipyard in Rio de Janeiro

Located in the southern Brazilian city of Rio Grande, the shipyard will be equipped with a graving dock of 133 metres by 350 metres with ancillary steel fabrication facilities. The new drydock, to be fitted with a 600-ton gantry crane and will be the largest and the first purpose-built facility to be built in Brazil. It will be capable of handling the construction and repair of semi-submersible oil exploration rigs, large oil production rigs, floating production, storage and offloading vessels and full-scale topside fabrication capacity.

Petroleo Brasiliero, a key customer of SembCorp Marine in Brazil, is expected to use the facilities of the new shipyard for its projects, and has also signed a contract to rent the shipyard for the next ten years.