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December 1, 2006 Hoegh Autoliners orders PCTC's in Vietnam
Hoegh Autoliners has entered a long term strategic cooperation with Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin) including the construction of four large Pure Car Truck Carriers with further options. The cooperation provides for technology transfer and includes participation by Det Norske Veritas and DeltaMarin ship design, Finland. The first vessel is scheduled to be delivered in 2009. The cooperation includes projects with NORAD (The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, DNV and Hoegh Autoliners for the development of Vietnamese shipbuilding industry. "Securing car carrying capacity to serve our customers' growing demand is our first priority," says Thor Jorgen Guttormsen, CEO of Hoegh Autoliners. "To develop an alternative source for new car carriers we have entered a long term strategic cooperation with Vinashin. This gives us access to building capacity for car carriers from another source in addition to our existing yard relations. We are pleased that first class companies with extensive Ro/Ro experience will participate in the process to develop a new supplier of car carriers." Hoegh Autoliners and DeltaMarin developed a new Ro/Ro car carrier design based on state of the art technology and with emphasis on environmental features. "Hoegh Autoliners is committed to continuous improvement with regard to environmental performance, and customers are seen to be increasingly aware of environmental aspects," says Thor Jorgen Guttormsen. The Hoegh Horizon class Pure Car Truck Carrier will have higher cargo capacity than vessels with the same dimensions and can carry about 7,000 car equivalent units. The design is developed to have a reduced negative effect on the environment and includes provisions for the inclusion of new technologies being developed by Hoegh such as ballast water treatment. Main "green" features include: Reduced emissions to air:
Reduced emissions to sea:
Safety:
The vessels will be constructed to DNV class and be registered in NIS (Norwegian International Ship registry). Hoegh Autoliners carried about 1.8 million vehicles in 2006, which is twice as much as the volume transported in 2000. Car manufacturers have upgraded their estimates for required transportation volumes. "In order to be able to meet the increasing demand for carrying capacity and service scope from our target customers we are looking for alternative sources for the construction of new vessels. We have a need for four to five new car carriers per year going forward, and access to shipyard capacity is a key," says Thor Jorgen Guttormsen. In November the company announced that it had added two more vessels to its series of newbuildings from Daewoo and currently it is building car carriers at yards in Korea (Daewoo), Philippines (Tsuneishi Cebu) and Croatia (Uljanik) in addition to Vietnam. Summary of remaining order-book (including vessels to be chartered) :
State-owned Vinashin has been investing heavily in enlarging, upgrading and modernizing its shipbuilding facilities. The strategic cooperation will provide competence in construction of large car carriers. Vietnam has expressed the ambition to become the world's fourth largest shipbuilding nation.
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