ADM orders post-Panamax bulkers with air-lubricated hulls

Agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) has placed an order with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation for the construction of three new 95,000 dwt post-Panamax dry-bulk oceangoing vessels, which will increase the size of ADM’s oceangoing fleet to 11 vessels.

Oshima Shipbuilding Company Ltd., a Japanese shipbuilding company specializing in dry bulk carriers, has been selected to build the ships. ClassNK has provided project advisory assistance and has been selected as the classification society.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. will provide green technology to help the vessels achieve approximately a 25 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions through superior hull form, propulsion systems and the Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System (MALS) innovative technology which reduces frictional resistance between the vessel hull and seawater using air bubbles along the bottom of the vessels.

Fleet Management Ltd. of Hong Kong has provided project management.

“Adding three new oceangoing vessels to our global transportation network supports our strategy to increase the volume of crops we handle and expand the geographic footprint of our operations worldwide,” said Royce Wilken, an officer of ADM Transportation. “It also provides greater flexibility and control of our supply chain while improving our transportation margins.”

To support the increasingly global nature of its business, ADM owns and operates an expansive global transportation network, which currently includes 700 trucks, 1,500 trailers, 26,100 railcars, 1,700 barges, 58 tug boats, 29 line boats and eight oceangoing vessels, that moves crops from local elevators to processing plants and customers around the world. ADM’s fleet of oceangoing vessels—ranging in size from Handy and Handymax to Supramax and Panamax—serves as the backbone of ADM’s grain transportation program.

October 18, 2011