Within the scope of the ambitious plan of Kuwait Oil Company aiming to revamp and develop its fleet within Phase III , Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah has signed the contract of taking delivery of the chemical and petroleum Medium Range “MR” tanker “Boubyan” manufactured by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Company (HMD) which was classified by the International Organization for Standardization as (CLASS NK) last Wednesday 28th of May 2014 at an official ceremony that was held at the headquarter of KOTC - the administrative area of Shuwaikh.
The ceremony was held in the attendance of the senior representatives of both the Korean and Kuwaiti companies represented by the Chief Executive Officer of KOTC and the Regional Manager of Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Company for the Middle East Region Mr. Tee Wai Ci . The celebration also witnessed the attendance of his Excellency the Kuwaiti Ambassador to South Korea Mr. Jassim Al Bedewi and his Excellency the Ambassador of South Korea to Kuwait Mr. Shin Bonam.
It is worth mentioning that the aggregate load of “Boubyan” tanker reaches approximately more than 46,000 metric ton; the said tanker is the second of four tankers built by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Company ( HMD) for ship building located in Ulsan City (South Korea). It also has the length of approximately 186 meters with a width of 32,2 meters and a draught that reaches 18,5 meters in addition to its speed which reaches 15,2 knot/hour. This tanker is considered economical in fuel usage, which makes it compete with similar tankers in the international leasing market.
The company is keen on building new tankers adopting the most recent international designs hereby matching the highest modern technical and technological standards along with applying and adopting the requirements of international and future standards in accordance with the international maritime laws in addition to the requirements and standards of the big oil companies and the international standardization institutions.
The newly built tankers are considered as a model for the most environment friendly tankers relying on the fact that they are designed and equipped with the special purpose equipments to decrease the different gas emissions resulting from burning the tanker’s fuels.
As for protecting the maritime environment, the said tankers are environment friendly as they are equipped with the latest techniques to treat the balance water (Ballast) as the sea water used in filling the balance tanks in the tankers is treated before being filled in the tanks; then re-treated again before draining it into the regional waters at the loading ports with the aim of decreasing the microbial and tiny maritime creatures in the territorial water. In addition to that, these tankers were designed and equipped with high additional environmental standards that will preserve the maritime environment of the local and international ports.
In addition to the above mentioned, it is expected that the company will finalize the program pertaining building Phase III of its fleet and taking delivery of the new tankers before the end of the current year 2014 according to the pre-planned schedule
- The Company’s Future Projects:
The KOTC is keeping the pace in its program pertaining revamping and developing its fleet after finalizing Phase III through commencing the work on Phase IV for building two new tankers for the Liquefied petroleum gas by the end of 2014.KOTC is currently qualifying international ship building companies for the project of designing and execution of building two huge gas tankers (VLGC-LPG) within the replacement program as the two tankers will replace the two old tankers “ Al Mutlaa Gas” and “ Al Qurain Gas” that will have completed 25 years of service by 2017/2018.