The country’s largest shipping company PT Berlian Laju Tanker will spend US$140 million in capital expenditure next year to purchase four new ships.
Berlian general manager for investor relations Peter Chayson said Monday the company had ordered four ships from Japan, three of which are designed to carry natural gas, while the other is a chemical carrier.
The chemical tanker will serve international sea routes, while the three natural gas tankers will transport gas between islands within the country, Peter said, adding the company would combine internal and external financing to fund them.
However, he refused to give further details.
The orders for the three gas tankers were made to take advantage of the government’s ruling that will oblige all gas and oil tankers trading in Indonesian territorial waters to be owned by domestic companies starting Jan. 1 next year.
The regulation, known as the Cabotage principle, is an extension of previous rules, which ordered all non gas and oil tankers trading in Indonesian territorial waters to be locally operated starting Jan. 1 this year.
Berlian welcomes the regulation as giving it a better chance to acquire new transportation orders than others, given the company’s position as the biggest player in the local shipping industry.
Even though Berlian refused to mention specific figures, it has predicted that the national shipping industry would grow at an average of 8 percent next year due to the implementation of the new regulation.
Berlian finance director Kevin Wong estimated that potential increased business for locally owned ships because of this change in trading rules could reach between US$1.2 and $2 billion next year.
New transportation orders may come from companies such as state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, which usually spends $400 million annually to rent more than 100 tankers with about 75 percent coming from foreign shipping companies.
Berlian operates 104 tankers with a total capacity of 2.4 million dead weight tons while the vessels in the fleet have an average age of 7.5 years.
The company reaffirmed on Monday its plan to acquire a 100 percent stake in Oslo-based Camillo Eitzen & Co. ASA (CECO) even though stock market regulator Bapepam rejected the company’s proposed plan to issue mandatory exchangeable bonds, to fund the acquisition.
Kevin said that the company was still in the process of devising new financial schemes to fund the acquisition. He did not elaborate.
