International Maritime Industries (IMI) is on the hunt for Greek clients on top of pledges from its shareholder Bahri to provide it with billions of dollars worth of VLCC newbuildings.
The joint venture, which includes Saudi energy and shipping giants Saudi Aramco and Bahri, revealed at Posidonia that it had initial agreements for a pipeline of projects.
According to a presentation, IMI will be “the only shipyard in the world with guaranteed off-take agreements worth $10bn over 10 years for ships and offshore rigs”.
Sources on the conference sidelines clarified that the framework agreements include building about 20 VLCCs for Bahri, which holds a 20% stake in the company.
Bahri managers did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
TradeWinds reported on Bahri’s pledge to support the yard with an unidentified number of VLCC newbuildings five years ago.
As construction work for the giant shipyard on the east coast of Saudi Arabia had yet to begin, Bahri issued a debut VLCC order at fellow IMI shareholder Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Under its investment in IMI, HHI was to transfer its knowledge to the Saudi yard so that IMI could build VLCCs independently.
IMI was expected to start production operations towards the end of 2020 with the facility reaching its full capacity by 2022.
However, that time frame was pushed back and the yard is expected to begin commercial operations in January.
Exclusive representative
As that date nears, IMI is looking for clients outside its narrow circle of shareholders.
In a deal signed at Posidonia on Thursday, IMI hired Athens-based maritime services provider Franman as its exclusive representative for Greece and Cyprus.
Costis Frangoulis-led Franman will set out to win ship repair and shipbuilding clients residing in the world’s biggest ship-owning centre and Europe’s biggest ship management hub, respectively.
“There are great expectations and I am sure we will be very successful,” Frangoulis said in a signature ceremony on the sidelines of Posidonia with IMI chief executive Feras al Sahan.
For Franman, the IMI deal marks a return to representing shipyards — a business from which it has been absent for about a decade.
Located in Ras Al-Khair, IMI aims to become the largest full-service yard in the Middle East and North Africa and one of the biggest in the world with a surface of 12 million square metres.
IMI is part of “Saudi Vision 2030”, a multibillion-dollar investment programme that aims to diversify and modernise the country’s economy.
Aramco owns 40% of IMI and HHI holds 20%. The remaining 20% is owned by Lamprell, a United Arab Emirates-based construction company specialising in the energy sector.
