Pertamina to charter tanker from PT Humpuss

JAKARTA (JP): The state oil company Pertamina has agreed to lease an oil tanker from PT Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi (HIT).

Under the 10-year charter contract signed yesterday, Pertamina will use the 3,500-dead weight ton (dwt) Mt. Nawa Samudra tanker with Panamanian flag to carry its oil product, Humpuss said.

The tanker is owned by Panama-based First Topaz Incorporation, a subsidiary of Singapore's Humpuss Sea Transport Pte. Ltd., it said.

Humpuss Sea Transport oversees HIT's other subsidiaries in Panama and Liberia which operate HIT's foreign-flagged vessels.

Mt. Nawa Samudra, with a capacity of 2,667 tons, is the ninth ship in HIT'S fleet. It was built in the shipyard of South Korea's Banguhjin Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Ltd.

It will be delivered to Pertamina after it leaves the shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea and will be officially handed over to Pertamina on Dec. 1.

With the operation of Mt. Nawa, HIT will own, manage and operate 13 vessels.

HIT is a subsidiary of the Humpuss Group, owned by President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra. The company plans to float some of its shares on the Jakarta Stock Exchange this year. (das)