OMAN Shipping Company (OSC), a member of the Asyad Group, has announced the signing of an agreement with South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) to build three very large crude carriers (VLCC) as part of a fleet renewal strategy.

Through its new assets, OSC will increase its competitive advantage in the market – providing customers with additional high-quality, economical and technologically-advanced vessels, said a statement from the company.

Once operational, OSC predicts that the three VLCC new builds will increase company oil shipping revenues by 10 per cent. Long-term contracts with international oil majors are already in place for all ships, it said.

The announcement has been made possible by Oman Shipping Company’s commitment to re-invest revenue in growth - increasing connectivity between Oman’s ports and global ports in response to expanding customer demand, it added.

 Each of the vessels will be 336-m-long and 60-m-wide and will be able to hold 300,000 tonnes of cargo.

All of the new orders will also meet future environmental requirements – including IMO 2020 standards – as well as benefit from DSME’s market-leading efficient-design for new builds.

Asyad’s OSC is an integral part of Oman’s drive to become a top-ten global logistics hub, and is supporting the integration of all supply chain activities in the sultanate – providing customers with rapid and unrivalled distribution capabilities across the Middle East, as well as acting as the region’s business-sense gateway to global markets.

Signing the agreement with DSME on behalf of OSC, Asyad group chief executive officer Abdulrahman Al Hatmi said: “OSC capabilities and customer offering are growing from strength to strength in response to increasing demand.”

“The fleet renewal programme reflects the company’s commitment to high-quality services, enhanced global connectivity and industry-leading competitiveness,” he added.

EXPANSION PLANS

The wholly Omani government-owned maritime freight transportation services provider, earlier announced plans to invest in a modern container shipping fleet in an ambitious bid to become a significant player in the regional container shipping business, said a report.

Expansion plans outlined by OSC’s parent holding company Asyad Group, the sultanate’s end-to-end transportation and logistics flagship, envision the growth of Oman Shipping’s container fleet from two vessels presently to 15 by 2023, added the Oman Daily Observer report.

This is in line with Oman Shipping’s aspirations to carry 1 million TEUs of containers annually across its regional network by 2023, it said.

Details about Oman Shipping’s bold expansion strategy were outlined at a first-ever ‘majlis’ hosted recently by Asyad Group. It envisions a substantial ramp-up in the size of the company’s diversified shipping fleet, from 49 vessels by the end of 2018, to 71 by 2023.

The new additions will primarily come in the Container Liner segment, with as many as 13 vessels planned to be inducted over the next five years. OSC’s wholly owned subsidiary Oman Container Line (OCL) currently operates a container feedering service, namely the Gulf Express Service (GEX), between Jebel Ali in the UAE and Suhar, Duqm and Salalah in Oman.

Launching operations initially as a liner operator, OCL has since made the strategic transition to becoming a third party feeder operator, added the report.