Transworld orders four boxships

Mumbai-based Transworld group is expanding its operations in a major way by ordering four container ships costing $25 million each from Singapore?s warship specialist shipyard Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd.

“Each of these ships will have a capacity to carry 1,400 TEU and will be delivered at six month intervals starting June 2007. The total cost of this fleet acquisition is $100 million,” says V. Ramnarayan vice chairman and managing director of Transworld group of companies. To tide over the global shortage of shipbuilding capacities, Transworld group, which controls, amongst others, container feeder shipping company Shreyas Shipping, has managed to get the Singapore firm to build and supply the ships in a short time frame to enable it to take advantage of the boom in India?s container trade.

Apart from Shreyas, the Transworld group also has three overseas feeder shipping companies: Orient Express Lines Ltd Mauritius, Orient Express Lines Ltd Dubai and Orient Express Lines (S) Pte Ltd Singapore. Out of the four newbuildings, one will be run by Shreyas while the other three will be run by Orient Express Line.