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)