Otto expands fleet with China-built vessel

Singapore’s Otto Marine Limited has taken delivery of a 238-men Work Maintenance Vessel to fulfill a long-term charter deal it signed in June.

The delivery ceremony of the vessel, Nautical Aliya, was held at a shipyard in China on Thursday.

According to Otto, the second vessel of the same type is currently under construction and will be completed by the end of this year.

The vessel measures 85 meters in length and 23 meters in width. It has a clear deck area of 635 m2, and is equipped with a deck crane of 80-ton lifting capacity.

It was built in a third party yard, and is on schedule for charter deployment in the South East Asia region.

Commenting on the vessel delivery, Michael See, Otto Marine CEO said: “We are pleased to add the new vessel to our fleet. This is in line with our strategy to maintain a healthy quantity of our own vessels in the fleet, in view of the better profit margins they can generate. We take a prudent approach in the current relatively weak market. Our strong customer network has continued to generate enquiries and charter contracts, and we plan our fleet accordingly.”

See said that in 2Q 2015, Otto Marine added $132.2 million new chartering contracts, bringing the total order book to $307.2 million as at June 30, 2015.