Brazil’s OSX gets credit line to develop huge shipyard

Brazil’s OSX Holding could receive a credit line of as much as Real 2.7 billion ($1.69 billion) to build one of the largest shipyards in the Americas, following the approval by the Board of Directors of Brazil’s Merchant Marine Fund for the prioritization of financial support for its Açu Shipbuilding Unit (UCN Açu).

The shipyard would be developed in the Açu Superport Industrial Complex, located about 150 km from the Campos Basin in the State of Rio de Janeiro. The shipyard is being jointly developed by OSX Construção Naval S.A., which has a 90% interest, and Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Ltd., which holds the remaining 10% stake. The shipyard will leverage Hyundai’s shipbuilding technology and have an initial quay of 2,400 meters. Further development could expand it to 3,525 meters, enabling it to accommodate up to 11 Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels.

OSX has already signed a letter of intent for what would be the largest construction crane in the Americas. The 125m high crane will be supplied by Hyundai Samho. It will have a distance between towers of 186 meters and capacity of 1,600 tons to allow the assembly and construction of large blocks and modules. Initially the shipyard will have an output of 180,000 tons of steel.

OSX has an orderbook valued at $4.8 billion, including five FPSOs, with capacities of 80,000 bbl and 100,000 bbl and three Wellhead Platforms (WHPs) for shallow water.

OSX´s chairman Eike Batista said the decision by the Merchant Marine Fund was “a confirmation of the national interest in the realization of the OSX Shipbuilding Unit, which is a decisive instrument so that we, Brazilians, may enjoy the benefits arising from the oil and gas that we have discovered in the offshore basins of our country.”

As we highlighted “Big opportunities for shipping” in Marine Log’s Annual Yearbook & Maritime Review published in June 2011, Brazil expects to double its daily production of oil by 2020, much of which will come from its growing offshore oil and gas business.

June 28, 2011