Samsung Heavy to set up shipyard in Teluk Ramunia

Samsung Heavy Industries, a core subsidiary of South Korea’s Samsung Group, is to invest in the oil and gas (O&G) hub in south-east of Johor Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said the company had last year visited Teluk Ramunia and identified an area there for its shipyard.
“They (Samsung officials) expressed strong interest during their visit to the area due to its strategic location and deepwater conditions,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters at the opening of a workshop on new technologies and research and development for Iskandar Malaysia. The workshop was organised by Iskandar Malaysia Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Research Centre.
However, Ghani could not give the exact figure that Samsung Heavy would invest and how much land is needed for the project.
In April, Johor State Investment Centre general manager Mohamed Basir Mohamed Sali told StarBiz that an Asia-Pacific-based company would invest RM2bil in a shipyard in Teluk Ramunia.
Samsung Heavy is the second-largest shipbuilder in the world with its main activities in shipbuilding, offshore floaters, digital devices for ships, and construction and engineering concerns.
The company operates manufacturing facilities at home and abroad, including shipping block fabrication factories in Ningbo and Rongcheng in China.
Teluk Ramunia and Pengerang would be developed into a regional O&G hub, with work on the 1,200ha phase one starting at the year-end.
Upon completion, the hub will span over 5,000ha and when fully operational, will create about 10,000 jobs.
“Apart from Samsung, several other foreign investors have also expressed strong interest to invest there,” said Ghani.
Two investors from Qatar and Iran would invest RM16bil and RM30bil respectively to set up their facilities at the hub before 2013 while a local company would invest RM500mil in a fabrication yard.