Dubai: Odfjell SE signed a 50/50 joint venture agreement with National Chemical Carriers Ltd. Co. (NCC) to establish a company in Dubai to commercially operate their respective fleets of coated (IMO 2/3) chemical tankers of 40,000dwt and above, in a joint pool for trading in the chemicals, vegetable oils and clean petroleum products markets on a world-wide basis, with emphasis on the growing production and export of the Arabian Gulf region.
The new company will start operations early next year with 15 vessels and a total dwt capacity of nearly 660,000tons, which will grow to 31 vessels and total dwt of nearly 1.4 millions tons over the next three years.
Commenting on the agreement, Jan Hammer, interim president and ceo of Odfjell said that it reflects the strong and strategic relationship between Odfjell and NCC which goes back 20 years when both companies jointly built and operated their highly sophisticated stainless steel parcel tankers in a pool serving the chemical industry, including the very important Arabian Gulf region.
Hammer added that this new joint venture will further enhance the roles of Odfjell and NCC in the transportation of chemicals all over the world but particularly from the Arabian Gulf to international markets, and will give contribution to serve the expansions in Saudi and other Middle East countries of the exports of liquid petrochemicals.
NCC was established in 1990, as a limited liability company with a capital amounting to SAR 610 Millions ($163 m) of which 80% is owned by National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (NSCSA) and remaining 20% by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC).
The company currently operates 13 vessels with total dwt of nearly 575,000 tons, and has on order at the SLS shipyard in South Korea further 16 vessels slated for delivery during 2010-2012, which will boost NCC fleet size to 29 vessels and total dwt of 1.3m tons. All of these newbuildings will be operated by the new company. [16/06/09]
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