On Monday, July 23 Iran-based SADRA Ship Manufacturing Yard will launch the biggest indigenously built tanker, managing director of the company, Engineer Salman Zarbi told the press.
The 113,000 dwt Aframax oil tanker will first cast off for three months long sea trials into the waters of the Persian Gulf, before it is handed over to its Venezuelan owner in November, Mr. Zarbi added, the Tanker Operator reports.
In 2007 Venezuela placed an order for construction of four Aframax oil tankers with the Iranian shipbuilding company. The construction started in 2010 and is well underway. The first tanker from the series is ready for launching, while the second one is about to be transferred to the dry manufacturing workshop pool for full assembly. The shipbuilding process of all four vessels is expected to last 40 months.
According to Mr. Zarbi, construction of each ship costs around €57 mill.
“Manufacturing ships of this size is taking place for the first time both in Iran and in the Middle East and although predicting the costs for the first of a kind of any product of this size is a tough job, we hope to gain between 10 to 15% benefit in this job.”
“The Venezuelan side has paid 20% of the cost of manufacturing the ship, which is €42 mill Euros in the year 2008” , he pointed out.
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World Maritime News Staff, July 20, 2012; Image: SADRA