Malaysia: Nam Cheong Splashes First Ever Indigeneously Built Diesel Electric MPSV

Nam Cheong Limited, SGX Main Board-listed leading global offshore marine player and Malaysia’s largest Offshore Support Vessel (OSV) builder,  launched on December 8 the first diesel electric multi-purpose platform support vessel (MPSV) ever built in Malaysia, the NC800, commissioned by Bumi Armada in a ceremony at the Group’s dockyard in Kuala Baram, Miri.

The NC800 MPSV, designed by Finnish ship designer Wärtsilä, is the largest vessel built by Nam Cheong in Malaysia and is the first vessel to run on diesel electric propulsion. Commissioned by Bumi Armada for its clients Sarawak Shell Berhad and Sabah Shell Petroleum Company, the vessel is equipped with a Remote Operated Vehicle mezzanine deck, crane, and a large 800 square metre deck area.

Present to officiate the ceremony was Sarawak Chief Minister YAB Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, Bumi Armada’s Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director Mr Hassan Assad Basma and Nam Cheong’s Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Datuk Tiong Su Kouk.

The shipbuilding and ship repairing (SBSR) industry was a key contributor to the nation’s economy, generating RM7.05 billion of revenue in 2011 and employing 30,000 people.

According to Datuk Tiong the shipbuilding industry in Malaysia is benefiting from the global growth as well as major investments in “oil and gas” exploration and production (E&P) activities in the region.

Operating one of the largest offshore support vessel shipbuilding yards in Malaysia, Nam Cheong has been winning a slew of contracts and riding on the wave of local and global demands, bringing in a record sale of 18 vessels sold this year with an order book totaling RM1.3 billion to date.

Datuk Tiong added: “This year has seen the most number of vessels sold in a single year, setting a new record for our Group’s corporate history. Our results today were only possible with long-term partners like Bumi Armada whom we delivered the first Malaysian-made DP2 vessel to five years ago and who continues to push the envelope with us to build more advanced vessels today.”

Bumi Armada is a Malaysia-based international offshore oil field services company that is also the largest owner and operator of OSVs in Malaysia and third in South East Asia.

Bumi Armada’s Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director, Mr Hassan Basma said: “As a company, we have always been committed to local content and industry development wherever we operate; be it in India, Nigeria or Latin America or in Malaysia. This collaboration with Nam Cheong is a good example. It has given us an opportunity to help a Malaysian shipbuilder open up new markets and build technological expertise – the very fundamentals of Blue Ocean strategy. Together we have built Malaysia’s first DP2 vessels, the first 8,000 bhp vessels, and now, the first Malaysian-built diesel electric MPSV.”

In June this year, Bumi Armada commissioned in a letter of intent an additional four MPSVs (with an option for another four more) for US$130 million (RM410 million), under the company’s “Steel on Water 2” expansion programme.

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Nam Cheong Limited, December 10, 2012