Asia/Pacific News
ES Group "See Growth Opportunities in Bunkering"
SGX-Catalist listed ES Group (Holdings) Limited (ES Group) launched the first of two bunker tankers at its 50 percent owned subsidiary’s shipyard in Thailand on Saturday, in what the company said "marks a major milestone for the Group" in a press release today.
The company expects the 3,400 dead-weight-tonne Sea Tanker I, which will be owned by the Group's wholly-owned subsidiary ES Shipping Pte. Ltd., to be delivered in the third quarter of 2012 where it will be chartered to Sea Hub Tankers Pte Ltd.
The second bunker tanker is scheduled for completion and deployment by the end of the year, with ES Group saying long-term charter agreements have been secured for both vessels to operate in the South East Asian waters.
Both the new builds are double-hulled and "fully complying with the new requirements for bunker vessels."
The Singapore-headquartered firm's core business is in new building, conversion, and repair of vessels, but wants to expand by establishing a vessel-owning and chartering business.
“With Singapore as a shipping hub and the world’s largest bunker port by sales volume, we see growth opportunities in bunkering. Venturing into vessel-owning and chartering will allow the Group to ride on the growth in this expanding industry,” said ES Group CEO Christopher Low.
