Sembawang Shipyard wins $167m newbuilding and upgrading contracts
Singapore-based Sembawang Shipyard has won S$215m ($167m) worth of newbuilding and major upgrading contracts. The shipyard, a subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine, secured a S$123m newbuilding contract from Teekay Shipping (Australia) for the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of a blue water research vessel. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's national science agency, will operate the vessel on behalf of the Australian government for use by the Australian marine research community. The dynamically positioned and fit-for-purpose vessel, to be named RV Investigator, is scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2013. The vessel will be based in Hobart, Tasmania and operates from the tropical north to the Antarctic ice-edge and across the Indian, Southern and Pacific Oceans. Sembawang Shipyard was also awarded three major upgrading projects worth S$92m. The works include an upgrade of a dynamically positioned heavy-lift and pipelay vessel with a lifting capacity up to 4,400 tons from an engineering firm, a LNG carrier longevity project and an upgrade of a drillship.