ST Engineering's marine arm obtains upgrade and maintenance contracts

S$55mln contracts from Singapore Navy, New Zealand research agency, and Partnership Ltd secured by ST Marine.

ST Engineering announced on April 1 that its marine arm, ST Marine, has been awarded S$55 million worth of upgrading and modification contracts from both its Naval and Commercial customers.

The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) has awarded a contract to ST Marine to upgrade a class of its vessels. The work scope will involve detailed system design, installation and integration to enhance the capability of the vessels to meet RSN's operational requirements. The upgrading work will commence mid 2010 and is expected to be completed by end 2015.

A second contract comes from New Zealand's National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA). ST Marine will upgrade its research vessel, Tangaroa. Measuring 70.0m long and 13.8m wide, Tangaroa will undergo upgrading works that will equip her with Dynamic Positioning capability. Upgrading works will include the installation of new thrusters and additional navigation sensors as well as enhancement of power management system. Pre-fabrication work commenced in the first quarter of 2010 and all works are expected to be completed by end of the year. Capable of working in conditions ranging from sub-tropical to sub-antarctic, Tangaroa is well equipped for a wide range of stock assessment functions like fisheries acoustic work and seismic surveying.

Partnership Ltd also appointed ST Marine to upgrade and lengthen its purse seiner, Pacific Princess. The scope of work for this 66.5m by 12.2m vessel encompasses the installation of new equipment that includes a fishing conveyor system, generator, thruster, switchboard and main hydraulic engine complete with new hydraulic piping system and cabling work. A bulbous bow will also be fabricated and installed on the vessel as part of this upgrading and lengthening works. Upon completion, the Pacific Princess will measure 86m long with the capability of sailing at a higher speed and operating with better fuel efficiency. The lengthening of the vessel will also result in an increase in fish well capacity by approximately 25 percent. Work has commenced and the project is expected to complete by mid 2010.

"These contracts reaffirm ST Marine's proven strength and capability in providing total engineering solutions to meet the stringent criteria of the different projects. We are pleased that the RSN and our commercial customers have chosen ST Marine to enhance their fleet and we look forward to establishing even stronger working relationships in the long term." ~ CHANG Cheow Teck, President, ST Marine.

The contracts are not expected to have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share and earnings per share of ST Engineering for the current financial year.