ST Engineering buys a Singapore shipyard

Written by Nick Blenkey
ST Engineering shipyard

With the lease on its Tuas Shipyard (above) expiring in 2024, ST Engineering has acquired Keppel’s Gul Road shipyard

After disposing of its U.S. shipyards in a $15 million deal with Bollinger Shipyards last November, Singapore’s ST Engineering is spending SGD 95 million (about US$72 million) to acquire a yard on its home turf.

ST Engineering’s marine business has acquired the site and assets of the Keppel O&M shipyard at 55 Gul Road, Singapore, for its commercial ship repair business. The assets acquired include three floating docks, existing buildings, workshops, and machinery.

The new Gul yard replaces ST Engineering’s Tuas shipyard, as its lease will expire at the end of 2024.

The company says that the asset purchase obviates the need to build a greenfield shipyard, which would require much higher construction and material costs as well as lead time.

The approximately 141,000 square meter Gul yard, with a gross built up floor area of 74,593 square meters, has a remaining lease until August 2030 which can be extended by another 20 years. ST Engineering has another shipyard at Benoi which is mainly for shipbuilding.

SMART SHIPYARD

The group says its ship repair business in Singapore has performed well and has been profitable over the years and continues to grow. To maintain its competitiveness in the ship repair segment, the Gul yard will be progressively upgraded to be a smart shipyard, adopting end-to-end digitalization that will power the ship repair cycle and processes. The new Gul yard will also be used to support the group’s other marine segments, such as module fabrication and offshore renewable projects.

“Taking over this brownfield site versus constructing a replacement greenfield site is an effective way to minimize capex. More importantly, building on the existing infrastructure and facility enables us to start operating immediately and effectively with minimal disruption to our operations,” said Ng Sing Chan, president, marine, at ST Engineering.

Categories: News, Shipyards Tags: