Malaysian shipbuilders say business is gaining momentum

Two Malaysian shipbuilders are hopeful that demand for new shipbuilding will pick up this year as the economy revives. Demand for new ships took a dip last year in line with the steep fall in trade and oil price due to global economic crisis. Labuan Shipyard & Engineering Sdn Bhd (LSE) chief operating officer Captain Rasol Puteh said the shipyard concentrated on its ship repair business last year as demand for new shipbuilding slowed.
“We did some repair works for the Royal Malaysian Navy vessels last year. The last new ship deliveries we made were the three habour tugboats for Bintulu Port in 2008,” he told StarBiz at the 11th edition of the Asia Pacific Maritime 2010 (APM 2010) last week.
But, business had been picking up and LSE recently bid for a number of vessels for the oil and gas industry valued at RM250mil, he said.
“LSE’s business has the potential to grow further as it is located next to Sabah and Sarawak where the deepwater oil exploration is.
“Furthermore, the yard has the capability and capacity to build large ships. We built a 16,000 deadweight tonne chemical tanker for MISC Bhd in the 1980s,” he said.
He said LSE would also do some dredging works at its yard to cater for the building of larger vessels.
LSE has a total land area of 90 acres, of which 60 acres have been developed. The remaining area will be used for future expansion.
A member of the Realmild Group, LSE specialises in shipbuilding, drydocking and repairs, integrated naval works as well as offshore marine engineering and construction.
Meanwhile, Penang-based shipyard Nautica Nova Shipbuilding & Engineering Sdn Bhd also concentrated on ship repair business last year due to the quiet market environment.
Safety and quality manager Shanny Chuah said the bulk of the repair business came from the Royal Malaysian Navy and Malaysian Coast Guard.
“We are confident of a more positive outlook this year. We got a lot of enquiries to build naval vessels from Bangladesh and Myanmar. We are also in negotiations to build oil and gas offshore vessels and fast patrol craft,” she said.
She said currently Nautica Nova had in its order book five vessels, of which two were valued at a total 12 million euros, another two at US$18mil and the fifth at RM40mil.
On expansion, Chuah said the company was looking for strategic private investors to come on board.
“We want to expand in terms of capacity and technology. In terms of human capital, the company has embarked on a special apprentice programme for school-leavers. This is to attract more young talent to join the industry,” she said.
The apprentice programme offers school-leavers the opportunity to join the company for 18 months with wages to learn various trades at the shipyard.
At the end of the programme, the apprentices will be awarded with a certificate.
Earlier this year, Nautica Nova delivered two lightering support vessels to the US Coast Guard.
Nautica Nova also launched its 40th Anniversary Booklet at the opening of APM 2010.