Local shipbuilders get contracts

Local shipbuilders get contracts

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina
signed contracts yesterday with two local shipbuilders to build
four 6,500 dead weight ton (DWT) tankers worth US$60 million for
the oil company's domestic operation.

The two shipbuilders, state-owned PT Dok & Perkapalan Surabaya
and PT Jasa Marina Indah of Semarang, would build the tankers
with the financing from a Japanese company.

"These contracts are special because for the first time, local
shipbuilders can bring foreign investors to invest in
shipbuilding without any guarantee from the government,"
Pertamina's president director Faisal Abda'oe said in his speech
at the signing ceremony.

He said construction of the four tankers would be financed by
Orion World Maritime SA, a subsidiary of Japan's Itochu Corp.,
with a $60 million loan. The eight-year loan carries an interest
rate of 8 percent a year.

Jasa Marina's president, Joeswanto Karijodimedjo, said
Pertamina would buy the tankers under a hire-and-purchase
arrangement, in which Pertamina would pay $35.96 per DWT a month
for eight years, he said.

The ownership of the tankers would be transferred to Pertamina
after the eighth-year period, he said.

Joeswanto said the tankers would be completed in two years.

Abda'oe said the contracts were part of Pertamina's program to
renew its 12-strong fleet of tankers for domestic operations.

Pertamina has signed contracts to buy four 17,500 DWT tankers
-- two tankers from PT Dirgatama, one from PT Pan MWP and one
from Kwarta DP.

It has also signed contracts to buy two 6,500 DWT tankers from
PT Citra MP and PT Damar SA, one 1,500 DWT tanker from PT Citra
MP and is negotiating with PT Marspec to buy another 1,500 DWT
tanker.

All contracts are based on a hire-and-purchase arrangement.
(jsk)