Plans for giant Brazil ship repair yard move ahead

Additional early stage investment funds have been received and applications for environmental licenses have been submitted toauthorities in Brazil.

"We are extremely excited about the advancement of activities in the development of the new ship repair facility in the northeast of Brazil" said Mr. Saginaw, "We are receiving strong support from both our new investors and from state and local authorities in Paraíba and the municipality of Lucena. We couldn't be more pleased with our current progress, in the midst of quite a challenging investment climate."

Celso P. Souza, project manager for the BBDC project said from Rio de Janeiro, "The implementation of the new facility is on schedule. With the filing for the environmental permits and the creation of the environmental impact analysis underway, we are now moving forward with the next stage of facility design and engineering. We envision start of construction by late 2016/early 2017 with first repair operations commencing early in 2019."

The BBDC shipyard in the Brazilian state of Paraíba will carry the name Empresa de Docagens Pedra do Ingá (EDPI). It will be located inside the harbor near the Port of Cabedelo in the municipality of Lucena and is positioned close to major shipping lanes in the Atlantic basin. The 600,000 square meter facility will be purpose-built for ship repairs, and its two graving docks and hydrolift facilities will be capable of drydocking any ship in the world merchant fleet.