Liquefied Petroleum Gas Carriers News

Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) said on Wednesday it was considering a range of options for its shipbuilding business, including splitting it off into a separate company. The comment follows a report in the Nikkei business daily that it was looking at splitting off part of its shipbuilding business - primarily the shipyards that construct liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas carriers - by the middle of next year. The move would allow that division to explore business tie-ups with other shipbuilding firms, it said. Reporting by Edwina Gibbs

The world’s biggest shipbuilding company, plans to achieve 100 trillion won or some $90 billion revenue in 2015 by diversifying its business portfolio. This ambitious management target comes as HHI celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, having started out in the shipbuilding business in 1972. HHI has key business divisions spanning shipping, plants and shipbuilding to engine equipment and green energy. They have built over 100 million tons of ships over the shipyard’s 40-year history. No other shipbuilding company in the world has ever built more, delivering a total of 1,805 diverse types of ship, ranging from drilling vessels…

According to a Nov 13 Reuters report, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co Ltd said it had signed a $408m order that revised up a 2007 contract to reflect changes to ship types. South Korea-based Hyundai Mipo had initially won a $373m order for eight container ships from an unidentified company in Europe in September 2007. The new contract now calls for the shipbuilder to deliver two container ships, two product carriers and three liquefied petroleum gas carriers, Hyundai Mipo said in a filing with the Korea Exchange. (Source: Reuters)

The Kyodo news service has reported that Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan will spin off its shipbuilding division on Oct. 1 into a new wholly owned subsidiary. The new subsidiary will reportedly be known as Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corp., and will specialize in the manufacture of ships and related equipment, Kawasaki Heavy said in a release. The spinoff is designed to create an efficient corporate structure that will enable the shipbuilding arm to cope with the global shipbuilding industry's oversupply and operate profitably in the long term by giving its managers greater leeway in running it, Kawasaki Heavy said. The new firm will concentrate business resources on high value-added products such as submarines…

Unitor won contracts from Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., worth approximately $5.65m for specialized insulation systems for LNG and LPG carriers under construction at this South Korean shipyard. Hyundai has chosen Unitor to deliver a foam insulation system for the cargo tanks on a 12,000 grt LPG carrier building for a European owner. The contract is valued in the region of $650,000. Unitor has delivered more than 70 foam in situ (molded) insulation systems for liquefied petroleum gas carriers, mainly in Europe. This is Unitor's first LPG contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries and is an important breakthrough for the company in this part of the world, which has become the center for the construction of LPG carriers, with new deliveries currently running at 20-30 vessels per year.

Teekay LNG Partners LP, a Bahamas maritime firm, will pay $106m to buy four liquefied petroleum gas carriers. Upon their delivery to Teekay LNG, all of the vessels will run on long-term, fixed-rate time-charters, Teekay said Wednesday. The company expects that each ship will generate about $11.6m per year in revenues. Three of the LPG carriers are under construction and will be purchased from IM Skaugen ASA upon their delivery from the shipyard between early 2008 and mid-2009. Source: United Press International

Keppel FELS Ltd (Keppel FELS) has secured its fourth order from India for a KFELS B Class jackup rig. Valued at US$182 million, this rig is for the Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd. Group (G.E. Shipping). This will be G.E. Shipping’s first newbuild drilling rig and is scheduled for delivery by the fourth quarter of 2009. It will be further customised to meet G.E. Shipping’s operational requirements for water depths of up to 350 feet and readily upgradeable to 400 feet. The rig will have capabilities to drill in 30,000 feet water depth and can accommodate 112 men. According to India’s national oil company, Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), it aims to double E&P reserves to six billion tonnes by 2020, out of which four billion tonnes are from deep waters. G.E.