Sembawang Shipyard to build research vessel for Australia

Singapore’s Sembawang Shipyard, a unit of Sembcorp Marine, has received a S$123 million (US$95.5 million) contract from Teekay Shipping (Australia) Pty Ltd for the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning (EPCC) of a dynamically positioned blue water research vessel for Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). According to a stock exchange announcement today, the shipyard has also won three major upgrading contracts worth a further S$92 million (US$71.5 million).

On completion and delivery in the second quarter of 2013, the research vessel will be named RV Investigator and will be based in Hobart, Tasmania. It will operate from the tropical north to the Antarctic ice-edge and across the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans.

Dr. Andrew Johnson, Group Executive -Environment, CSIRO said “The award of this contract is an important part of a four-year process by CSIRO through the “Future Research Vessel Project” to build a new and highly advanced research vessel. RV Investigator will significantly boost the oceanographic, geoscientific, fishery, and ecosystem research capability available to Australian marine researchers. The new vessel will deliver benefits to many Australian agencies and underpin science discoveries from Southern Hemisphere marine environments. We have selected Sembawang Shipyard and Teekay Shipping as the right partners for CSIRO through a rigorous evaluation process and have full confidence that both companies will together deliver our new vessel to our required standards.”

Mr. David Parmeter, Managing Director of Teekay Shipping (Australia) Pty. Ltd said “Sembawang Shipyard is our valued partner in Singapore and has strongly supported us throughout the due diligence process to CSIRO. We are confident that our close partnership and collaboration will lead to the timely and safe delivery of the state-of-the-art new research facility to comply with CSIRO’s stringent operating standards for multi-disciplinary research activities at sea.”

UPGRADE PROJECTS

The three other contracts reported by Sembawang Shipyard today are:

• an upgrade of a dynamically positioned heavy-lift and pipelay vessel with a lifting capacity of up to 4,400 tons from a leading engineering, procurement, construction and installation company
• an LNG carrier longevity project and
• an upgrade of a drillship.

Mr. Ong Poh Kwee, Managing Director of Sembawang Shipyard said “We would like to thank our partners and customers for selecting Sembawang Shipyard to execute these prestigious and important contracts and for their trust and confidence in our capabilities. Each of these projects demand strong engineering and project skills to be executed in a safe environment and at a time when the shipyard is near completion of our infrastrutural enhancement program