Saudi tanker giant Bahri has firmed up its first newbuilding order for a VLCC at domestic shipbuilder International Maritime Industries (IMI).
IMI, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco, Lamprell, Bahri and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), has subsequently sub-contracted construction of the tanker to the South Korean shipbuilder.
The order was confirmed in a statement released early Wednesday, but it was light on details such as financial terms and the expected delivery date.
“Bahri is committed to playing a pivotal role in transforming the Kingdom into an important regional and global logistics and transportation hub,” Bahri chief executive Abdullah Aldubaikhi said in the statement.
“This project award, which further strengthens our strong strategic relationship with IMI and HHI, signifies a major development in this direction.”
IMI chief executive Fathi K Al-Saleem added: “This sub-contract award provides many benefits for IMI, including transfer of knowledge from HHI to IMI, a mechanism to grant use of Intellectual Property (IP) to IMI, development plans for IMI employees to acquire new skills in shipbuilding and planning, as well as technical assistance .
“This project award will also contribute to the long-term growth of this new industry in Saudi Arabia and will enable IMI to independently build VLCCs in Saudi Arabia to the highest international shipbuilding standards.”
IMI is located in The King Salman Complex for International Maritime Industries & Services at Ras Al-Khair, Saudi Arabia.
When completed IMI will be the “largest, full service maritime facility” in Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), according to its backers.
It will eventually have an annual capacity of the facility will be four new build offshore rigs and over 43 new build vessels including VLCCs.
The first phase of operations is expected to commence toward the end of 2020 with the facility reaching its full production capacity by 2022.
