Keppel clinches specialised ship contracts

Keppel Singmarine Pte Ltd (Keppel Singmarine), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has secured four contracts worth a total of $230 million to build six offshore support vessels (OSV) and a derrick pipelay vessel. Delivery dates for these vessels are expected between the second half of 2009 and the first half of 2010.

This is the first time that Keppel Singmarine is building a derrick pipelay vessel and for a new customer, the US-based Global Offshore International Ltd (Global Offshore). The 163-metre derrick pipelay vessel is a multi-purpose construction vessel to be equipped with two units of 4,500 kW electric propulsion thrusters, six units of positioning thrusters, a 1,200-tonne crane and pipelay equipment capable of operating in water depths of 3,000m and handling pipes of 60 inches in diameter.

The second contract secured is for another first time customer, Greatship Global Offshore Services Pte Ltd (Greatship), a subsidiary of India’s Great Eastern Shipping, for the construction of two 94-metre, 4,600 dwt platform supply vessels (PSVs). The PSVs will be equipped with diesel electric propulsion and dynamic positioning systems (DP-2).

The third contract was signed with repeat customer, Hadi H. Al-Hamman Establishment (Hadi) of Saudi Arabia, to build two 60-tonne bollard-pull Anchor Handling Tug/Supply (AHTS) vessels with dynamic positioning system (DP-2) for the Middle East. Hadi has placed a total of 16 vessels with Keppel Singmarine since 2001.

The fourth contract is for another repeat customer, LUKOIL-Kaliningradmorneft (LUKOIL), a subsidiary the Russian oil company LUKOIL Oil Company, which has commissioned Keppel Singmarine with the building of two Ice-Class multi-purpose standby and rescue vessels for the Caspian Sea. These are the sixth and seventh vessels to be built for LUKOIL.

Keppel Singmarine has secured contracts for over 50 OSVs since targeting its business on designing and building specialised vessels in 2002.