Saudi Arabian International Maritime Industries (IMI) inked a Vessel Purchase Agreement (VPA) with Bahri, a logistics and transportation company, to construct one 319,000 DWT Class Crude Oil Carrier with delivery expected in October 2021.
This project will boost IMI’s localized supply chain infrastructure, technical expertise for Saudi Nationals, and a track record in shipbuilding
IMI is a joint venture consisting of Saudi Aramco, Lamprell Bahri and Hyundai Heavy Industries.
In light of this agreement, Fathi K. Al-Saleem, IMI Chief Executive Officer, commented
This sub-contract award provides many benefits for IMI, including transfer of knowledge from HHI to IMI, a mechanism to grant use of Intellectual Property (IP) to IMI, development plans for IMI employees to acquire new skills in shipbuilding and planning, as well as technical assistance.
Moreover, IMI located in The King Salman Complex for International Maritime Industries & Services at Ras Al-Khair, aspires to become the largest, full service facility in MENA.
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When the facility’s construction is completed, the annual capacity will be four newbuild offshore rigs and over 43 new build vessels, including VLCCs. The first phase of production operations is expected to commence toward the end of 2020 with the facility reaching its full production capacity by 2022.
Overall, the joint venture’s IMI construction plans began in 2018.
Bahri’s net income was impacted by the attacks and tensions that took place in Strait of Hormuz, as the company’s CEO, Abdullah Aldubaikhi commented that ‘The financial results achieved for the first half of 2019 reflect the difficulties that the region is going through, which impacted the whole maritime shipping industry.‘
