The Straits Times / The Business Times News on Cosco

Cosco signs rig deal worth US$200m

COSCO Corporation (Singapore) Ltd yesterday announced that its 51 per cent owned subsidiary, Cosco Shipyard Group, has signed a contract valued at US$200 million with Marine Accurate Well (Maracc) to build a semi-submersible rig. Work on the rig will begin on March 31.

The contract provides for Maracc to exercise options for two more similar vessels.

Last week, the Singapore mainboard-listed shipping group announced its first newbuilding orders for six supramax bulk carriers and the rig for Maracc, saying that the two contracts totalled US$450 million in value.

Cosco Corp Singapore president Ji Hai Sheng told BT last week that the shipyard group plans to build its vessel newbuilding operations and offshore marine engineering work so that they would jointly contribute 60 per cent of revenue by 2010. The traditional area of ship repair and conversion will account for the remaining 40 per cent.

Mr Ji expects orders to be driven by rising energy demand and new shipping regulations.