Marco Polo builds barges for Indonesian venture

Marco Polo Marine is building four barges to be leased to its Indonesian joint venture with Glencore. Singapore-listed Marco Polo is building four barges at its Batam yard for S$8.9m for an undisclosed Indonesian entity, which will then lease the barges to Alpine Marine, a unit of MPST an Indonesian joint venture with Glencore. The Indonesian buyer is also acquiring four tugboats to lease to Alpine Marine. The chartering arrangement has been undertaken to comply with Indonesian cabotage laws The new vessels will bring Alpine’s fleet to 32 tugs and barges. “With the enlarged operating fleet size, Alpine Marine will be well positioned to capture a bigger portion of the growing coal market in Indonesia,” Marco Polo said.