Heng Chiang Gnee News

ABS, a classification and technical services provider to the offshore and marine industries, has been recognized by the Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) as this year’s recipient of the Honorary SMI Collaboration Award. Guest of honor Lucien Wong, Chairman of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, presented the Honorary SMI Collaboration Award to ABS on October 10 at the SMI Forum. The award represents special acknowledgement of the many projects pursued in collaboration with the ABS Singapore Innovation and Research Center (SIRC).

Offshore marine services provider Jaya, now part of Mermaid Marine Australia Ltd. (MMA), today delivered Jaya Majestic, a new state-of-the-art anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel into MMA’s international fleet. Jaya Majestic was built at the company’s Singapore shipyard and is the first vessel to be delivered following the acquisition of 100% of Jaya Holdings’ subsidiaries by MMA earlier this year. MMA is Australia’s largest marine services provider to the offshore oil and gas industry.

Sixty-Nine prominent shipping industry executives have been elected as new members of ABS. In addition, Rear Admiral David L. Brewer III, Commander, Military Sealift Command, U.S. Navy, was appointed as a member. This brings the ABS worldwide membership to 803. The members, each eminent in their maritime field of endeavor, provide broad governance and oversight of ABS. Members are drawn from various sectors of the marine, offshore and related industries worldwide. M.A. Marcelo P. S.A. Ghazi A. Al-Ibrahim, President, Mideast Shipmanagement Ltd. Giovanni Barbaro, Owner, Pietro Barbaro S.p.A. S.p.A. Giuseppe Bottiglieri, Managing Director, Bottiglieri Di Navigazione, S.p.A. Jae Cheol Byun, President, JSM International Ltd. Dr. Mauro Fernando Orofino Campos, President, Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.

Singapore's Sembawang Shipyard Pte Ltd., a subsidiary of SembCorp Marine, has entered an agreement to repair the Far East fleet of BP Shipping Ltd. for an indeterminate amount of time. Sembawang Shipyard managing director Heng Chiang Gnee said the company expects to refit and drydock about 12 of BP Shipping's fleet of 30 in a typical year. He said he expected a typical contract value of about $1.2 to $1.7 million to repair each of the vessels.

SembCorp Marine Ltd. (SCM), Singapore's largest ship repairer, posted a small rise in its 2000 net profit, in line with market expectations. SCM, 63 percent owned by conglomerate SembCorp Industries Ltd. with a market value of about S$1.1 billion, said last year's net profit was S$80.16 million, up 2.3 percent from 1999. Its bottom line was boosted by a one time gain of S$6.5 million from the sale of shares in Jurong Technology Industrial Corp. early last year and a writeback of tax over provisions of S$4.7 million. Analysts have a consensus 2000 forecast of S$81.5 million, according to Multex Global Estimates. The forecasts ranged from a low of S$71.5 million to a high of S$86.8 million.