PT PAL lands $250m in contracts

SURABAYA, East Java (JP): State-owned shipbuilder PT PAL announced on Monday it had secured Rp 2.1 trillion (US$250 million) in orders for ships and power-generation equipment for delivery through the year 2000.

Company president Adwin H. Suryohadiprodjo said here on Monday that 30 percent of the orders were from overseas companies.

"International demand for ships has dropped by 50 percent in the last two years. To maintain our performance, we will focus our efforts on producing small and medium-size ships which are not produced by major international shipbuilders," Adwin said.

"We will also try to be more competitive by improving our quality, cutting our costs, setting lower prices, and guaranteeing on-time delivery."

He said the company for the time being would not bid on tenders for big vessels because it would be hard to beat Japanese and South Korean shipbuilders, which respectively control 33 percent and 31 percent of the world's large ship market.

Aside from shipbuilding, Adwin said, PAL also gave priority to general engineering, especially in production of power generation equipment for electricity, oil and gas industry.

Adwin said the company's general engineering products had entered the international market since 1997 through its partnerships with the United States giant General Electric and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Co.

"This nonshipping business has greatly helped us in maintaining our performance since 1986," Adwin said.

PAL projected total sales of Rp 460 billion this year, with a net profit of Rp 38 billion.

He added that as of November, the company had booked Rp 384 billion in sales and Rp 25 billion in net profit.

"We have set a sales target of Rp 760 billion for next year."

PAL is to deliver on Tuesday one dry cargo vessel to Munchmeyer Petersen of Germany, a 250-megawatt stator frame generator to General Electric Power System and an express patrol boat to the National Police. (gis/nur)