Pertamina leases 15 oil tankers

Pertamina leases 15 oil tankers

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned oil company Pertamina signed
contracts yesterday to lease 15 tankers from 11 domestic
companies for between US$15 and $50 a dead-weight ton (DWT) a
month.

Pertamina president Faisal Abda'oe, who witnessed the deals,
said the tankers would be used to distribute oil domestically.

The 11 ship owners are PT Kwarta Daya Pratama, PT Adhimas
Putra Perkasa, PT Wintermar, PT Arpeni Pratama Ocean Line, PT
Camarmas Sakti, PT Humpuss Sea Transport, PT Bumi Perkasa
Bahtera, PT Adnyana, PT Bumi Indonesia Tanker, PT Scorpa Pranedya
and PT Desira Pratama Lines.

The 15 tankers, to be leased on a long-term time charter
(LLTC) basis to Pertamina, include two 1,500-DWT, five 3,500-DWT,
six 17,500-DWT and two 30,00-DWT ships.

Pertamina set its monthly lease rates between US$13 and $50 a
DWT depending on the tankers' sizes.

The companies, which won their contracts in a competitive bid,
must deliver the tankers to Pertamina within 19 months of signing
the contracts.

"Delays in tanker delivery will make the lessor liable to a
penalty of 5 percent of the tanker's value," Ilham Sharif, a
Pertamina shipping division executive, said.

Abda'oe said Pertamina now preferred leasing tankers through
LTTC agreements to buying its own tankers, because leasing was
more efficient and provided business opportunities to domestic
firms in domestic fuel transportation.

"Pertamina is not a ship-building company," he said, adding
that the contracts were the third series of lease deals with
domestic firms concluded by the state oil company.

Pertamina now operates 185 tankers of various sizes: 68 are
owned by the company and the others are leased through various
charter agreements, including LTTC contracts.

According to Jusuf Rahimi of PT Kwarta Daya, a 17,500-DWT
tanker costs about $25 million.

Sharif said the competitive bid for the tankers had been
restricted to domestic bidders.

S. Sumantri, an Indonesian National Ship-owners Association
executive, welcomed the limited tender because the system gave
domestic ship-owners a better chance to win contracts.

Sumantri called on other domestic industrial companies,
including cement, fertilizer and coal producers, to follow
Pertamina's example of preferential treatment to domestic
shipping companies. (jsk)