The Qin Shi Huang will be delivered to its new owners around January 20, 2008 and the new-building under construction will be delivered upon completion of construction in 2Q08.
SMC will realize a gain on the sale of the two vessels of approx. USD 9 million.
By this, SMC have sold three of its first ships under construction. These first SMC ships named the "Summergas" series, is a strong validation of our innovative new-building strategy. The vessels are built to good quality standards and are completed by the combined efforts of SMC and our alliance and JV partners. Moreover, we are able to deliver these ships at a cost significantly below of comparable industry prices. We have thus, through our unique process of ship building, proven our significant competitive advantage within the industry.
IMS formed the Skaugen Marine Construction (SMC) division in 2006 in China. Through SMC we have streamlined our marine construction activity for building of new gas carriers. With responsibility for all aspects of this programme, including managing our Chinese joint venture partnerships - the work of SMC is key to the future financial and operational success of the Group. The pioneering new-building programme, for the time being, comprises up to 16 vessels for delivery between now and 2010. 12 of these vessels have so far been confirmed with our suppliers and joint venture partners, two ships have already be been delivered and the third one is scheduled for 2Q2008.
I.M. Skaugen ASA
If you have any questions, please contact:
Bente Flø, Chief Financial Officer, on telephone +47 23 12 03 30/+47 91 64 56 08 or by e-mail: bente.flo@skaugen.com. This press release is also available on the Internet at our website: http://www.skaugen.com.
Listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, I.M. Skaugen ASA (IMSK) - www.skaugen.com - is a Marine Transportation Service Company engaged in the hassle free transportation of petrochemical gases and LPG, ship-to-ship transfer of crude oil and LNG, as well as the design and construction of smaller and specialized high quality marine vessels.
IMSK is a fully integrated shipping company that designs, builds, owns, mans and manages our own ships. IMSK customers are major international companies in the oil and petrochemical industry, whom we serve worldwide from our operations in Dubai (UAE), Freeport and Houston (Texas), Oslo (Norway), Singapore Sunderland (UK), Nanjing, Shanghai, Taizhou, Zhangjiagang and Wuhan (China). IMSK operates recruitment and training programmes in St. Petersburg (Russia) and Wuhan (China) for the crewing of vessels.
IMSK employs approx. 1,500 people and currently operates 45 vessels worldwide. The fleet comprises petrochemical gas and LPG carriers, Aframax tankers, vessels and barges for the transportation of gases on the Yangtze River (China) and a small number of workboats for Skaugen PetroTrans (SPT).
IMSK has a comprehensive new-building project in China including three LPG vessels of 3,200 cbm; three purpose designed combination carriers with LPG/Ethylene/VCM and Organic chemicals carrying capability, as well as up to ten advanced 10-12,000 cbm LNG/LPG/Ethylene gas carriers. IMSK has invested in infrastructure with both a shipyard and a cargo plant maker in China to ensure innovative and flexible vessels at low cost. Six new, purpose designed and built "Aframax sized tankers", are on order for delivery to SPT (USA) on a long term Bareboat charter and for delivery from 2007 until spring 2008.