Coastal poised to clinch OSV orders

Malaysian shipbuilder Coastal Contracts Bhd expects to secure a further $126 million worth of new offshore support vessels (OSV) orders this year, said executive chairman Ng Chin Heng.

Ng said the Sabah-based company was in “advanced negotiations” with several potential OSV buyers and was confident of closing these deals soon. In January, the company announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Coastal Offshore (Labuan) Pte Ltd had secured an order for two OSVs from an Indonesia buyer worth about $33 million while last week it said it had secured a contract to build two OSVs for an Egyptian buyer for $16 million.

Ng said Coastal hoped to maintain a strong double-digit growth in net profit this year, with the OSV segment spearheading the earnings expansion. At the same time, the company was positive that demand for tugboats and barges, its traditional market which are chartered out, would remain significant in line with the rise of global seaborne trade, he said.