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)