Aussie yard ventures into Mexico

Henderson-based shipbuilder Strategic Marine in Western Australia will open its first shipyard in the Americas later this year following a successful joint venture bid with Servicios Navales E Industriales S.A. DE C.V. (SENI) to build two 52 metre aluminum crew boats for Arrendadora Ocean Mexicana S.A. de CV (Blue Marine Offshore) in Mexico. Strategic Marine already operates yards at its Henderson headquarters, Tuas in Singapore and Dong Xuyen Industrial Zone, Ba-Ria Vung Tau in southern Vietnam.

The $11.89 million contract will see the two vessels operated by Blue Marine Offshore for its Pemex contract in the Gulf of Mexico. Work on the contract is scheduled to commence this year, before which Strategic will work with SENI to upgrade its existing maintenance facility at Mazatlan on the Mexican west coast.

Both vessels will be based on Strategic?s Deep V high-speed planing hull design and will be operated by a 10-man crew with a 60 passenger capacity in addition to 100 tonne of cargo at a cruising speed of 20 knots.

The company believes the contract win was heavily influenced by its powertrain decision which provided greater hull efficiency and hence reduced fuel consumption. Strategic Marine chairman, Mark Newbold, said the company had established a sound working relationship with SENI which would provide a strategic cornerstone for the company?s global expansion plans into the Americas. “We have been actively looking to increase our construction capacity to underpin global growth, in particular our goal of moving into larger offshore vessels such as PSVs, AHTs and DSVs,” he said.

Newbold said the Mazatlan yard would provide Strategic Marine with the ability to target both the North and South American offshore and para-military markets. Design of the two vessels will be undertaken at the company?s Henderson facility.

In a separate agreement, Strategic Marine recently secured an order for an additional 31 metre crew boat for Indonesia’s PT Baruna Raya Logistics. Baruna Raya already has three other similar boats on order with Strategic Marine and all four will be built at the Tuas yard in Singapore with pre-fabrication work done from the Western Australian facility in the Australian Marine Complex. Delivery date of the fourth and final vessel is scheduled for March 2009.

Each will be able to accommodate up to 60 passengers and a crew of eight. The design features 67 square meters of deck space and the vessels will be powered by three Cummins KTA38 engines generating a combined 2,645 kW and will be capable of reaching a maximum speed of 24 knots.