Pertamina builds four new tankers
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Cashing in on profits from the sale of its two super tankers last year, state oil and gas firm Pertamina is constructing four new smaller tankers worth about US$50 million to distribute fuel products throughout the archipelago.
Two of the tankers, MT Plaju with a capacity of 6,500 Long Ton Dead Weight (LTDW) and MT Fastron with 30,000 LTDW, are expected to be completed in May, Pertamina says on its website.
The two vessels are being constructed in PT Dok & Perkapalan Surabaya and PT Pal Surabaya's shipyards in East Java.
Dead weight tonnage refers to the weight that a ship can safely carry when fully loaded. A long ton is 1,016 kilograms.
Batam-based PT Nanindah Mutiara Shipyard are building the other two lighter vessels; the MT Balongan, with a capacity of 6,500 LTDW, and the MT Mundu of 3,500 LTDW.
It was unclear when these tankers would be completed.
"The total investment of the four tankers amounted to about $50 million," media relations officer Mochamad Harud said on Saturday.
Some of the funds for the construction were derived from the controversial sale of the company's super tankers last year, which the Business Competition Supervisory Commission said was "riddled with irregularities".
Pertamina bought the two tankers, with a capacity of 260,000 Dead Weight Ton each, for $65.4 million each and sold them to the Bermuda-based Frontline Shipping Ltd. for a total of $184 million.
At present, the state oil firm operates about 130 tankers of different sizes to ensure that the fuel demands of the thousands of islands in the country are fulfilled.
Pertamina owns only 30 vessels in its entire fleet and has had to charter the rest.
Although the new tankers were relatively small, Harun said they would help the company maintain fuel supplies in the country.
In 2003, Pertamina's ships transported some 81 million kiloliters of fuel products to numerous ports in Indonesia.
Higher global demand for tankers fueled by economic growth in China and Vietnam meant ship charter costs skyrocketed by up to 100 percent last year to an average of about $7,000 per ship a day.