Page 86: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 1998)

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Synerglzing snip Repair by David Tinsley, technical editor

Highly industrialized Singapore, embracing little more than 230 sq. mi. of territory off the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, is remark- able on many counts for its indus- trial endeavors and trading profile.

The economic contribution made by its ship repair activities cannot be understated. An estimated 15 floating docks and 15 graving docks, complemented by more than 10 yards involved in specialized ship and rig building, affords an indication of the scale and interna- tional influence of the sector.

It possesses the physical and technological capabilities to take on any type and scale of job in the ship repair and conversion domain.

While its reputation for contractu- al performance and good produc-

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Circle 317 on Reader Service Card tivity is undisputed, there are lim- its to its ability to ward off ever- keener competition in main sectors of the repair business, including standard drydocking work.

The characteristically forward- thinking approach which has seen

Singaporean companies foster and develop shipyard ventures in lower wage cost areas of the Asia Pacific region, has also seen strategies employed on the home front of tar- geting higher value sectors of the business, investing in scale economies offered by new docks, and relaxing employment restric- tions on foreign nationals in

Singapore in an effort to ease labor supply problems.

While the ship repair business is essentially short-term in the lead times it involves, and while it is highly sensitive to cyclical ship- ping market conditions, corporate planners must take a long-term view of operations in Singapore, relative to emerging competition and sectoral industrial develop- ment on a global basis.

As a core element of the restruc- turing process now under way within Singapore's exceptionally heavy concentration of shiprepair facilities and building yards, the merger of Sembawang Shipyard with Jurong Shipyard (JSL) brings a massive combined force into being. Although synergies will be exploited, the new entity can be expected to maintain the two sites for the foreseeable future.

Fluctuations in demand and ever-tougher competition for gen- eral ship repair and drydocking work have seen the industry in

Singapore successfully develop more specialized lines of business.

One such area has been the con- version of tankers for a floating production and storage role. The extent of new opportunities for tap- ping the resources of smaller or marginal oilfields is likely to ensure continuing demand for such units, although there is an increas- ing tendency toward newbuild con- struction.

JSL augmented its workload in the offshore sector by taking on the job of adapting the 103,000-dwt

Munin, the second of two multi- purpose shuttle tanker (MST) new- buildings for a production role on the Lufeng field in the South

China Sea. Ordered by Norwegian owners from Samsung Heavy

Industries, and offering a storage capacity of 640,000-barrels, the vessel arrived directly from the

Koje Island yard in South Korea for installation of processing equip- ment. Underscoring JSL's success- ful development of business in a niche market, the 1997 contract intake included the conversion of a

VLCC into a 2.2 million-barrel

FSU, the upgrading of a floating storage unit (FSU) into a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), and the conversion of a Suezmax tanker for a station- ary offshore role.

Among the lengthier jobs under- taken by Sembawang last year was the large-scale refurbishment of the 150,500-dwt Vietnamese FPSO

Chi Link. The vessel had been adapted for floating production duties in the late 1980s, and the recent refit prepared it for a fur- ther period of duty off the coast of

Vietnam. Confirming the compa- ny's prowess in adapting tankers for offshore duties, Keppel

Shipyard recently landed a con- tract from Singapore-based

Nortrans Engineering Group for the conversion of the 141,000-dwt tanker Knock Buie into an FPSO.