South Korean owned shipbuilder STX Europe has switched venues with its Brazilian partners for the construction of eight gas tankers – costing USD$536m - for Brazil’s state-controlled tanker operator Transpetro. The eight vessels will now be built at a new shipyard to be constructed in the Suape Industrial Port Complex (near Recife) and not in Fortaleza, in the northeastern state of Ceara, as was originally planned. STX will have as neighbours Samsung Heavy Industries, who have a share in Atlantico Sul, built from scratch two years ago and already the biggest yard in the southern hemisphere. Construction of the eight gas tankers, four of 7,000 cu m capacity, two of 12,000 cu m and two of 4,000 cu m, will begin towards the end of next year. The project, including the building of the yard, will provide at least 7,000 jobs of which 3,000 will be permanent, according to a Transpetro spokesman. He told SAO today that the first tanker will be delivered in 2013. STX's Brazilian partners are the four executives of the PJMR consultancy, which also has a share in EAS, and they are currently using the interim name of Estaleiro Promar for the project. The tranche of orders is lat piece in the jigsaw of part two of Transpetro’s USD$4.5BN overall spending on its Fleet Renewal Programme (Promef) with that figure including expenditure on Promefs 1 and 2.
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