Sindora's Johor hubs to focus on shipbuilding, repair

Plantation-based company Sindora Bhd  will focus on shipbuilding and ship repair activities at the oil and gas hub in Teluk Ramunia and Pengerang areas in Johor. Its chairman Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim said the company's move into shipbuilding and ship repair works is through E.A. Technique (M) Sdn Bhd, a 51 per cent subsidiary of Sindora.

"The setting up of E.A. Technique's shipyard at Tanjung Langsat Port in Pasir Gudang will offer shipbuilding and ship repair works that would complement the related activities at the hub," he told reporters after Sindora's annual general meeting in Johor Baru yesterday.

Muhammad Ali was confident that the shipbuilding and ship repair business will do well as Johor has sufficient facilities to undertake such activities.


To date, the oil and gas hub has received RM16 billion and RM30 billion worth of investments from Qatari and Iranian companies respectively.
The hub has also received a RM2 billion job for a shipyard project from an Asia Pacific-based firm and a RM500 million contract for a fabrication yard from a home-based company.

Muhammad Ali said with the shipyard at Tanjung Langsat Port, its shipbuilding activities by E.A. Technique's wholly-owned subsidiary Johor Shipyard Engineering Sdn Bhd (JSE) in Teluk Intan, Perak, will be relocated to Johor.


"The shipyard will also offer mini fabrication works used by petroleum companies," he said, adding that many Singaporean fabricators have approached the company in offering fabrication works to JSE.


Muhammad Ali believes that the shipyard is poised to attract additional shipbuilding and ship repair contracts from Singapore due to the higher cost of such activities in the island republic.


Meanwhile Sindora managing director Rozan Mohd Sa'at said the company will continue to develop small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be part of its IVB scheme.


"We have received many applications from SMEs and companies within Johor Corp which is Sindora's parent company to join the scheme," he said, adding that the company will proritise applications based on synergistic values that they can provide.

For the financial year ended December 31 2009, Sindora posted RM43.83million in net profit on revenue of RM336.48million.