The shipping arm of Royal Dutch Shell is seeking to expand its strategic shipyard alliances around the world following the growth of its business and the success of partnerships with yards in Singapore and France.
With a repair and refit alliance between Shell and Sembawang Shipyard since 1998, and another with the Sobrena shipyard in Brest, the group is currently reviewing its shipyard policy and strategy, said Jan M Kopernicki, VP Shipping of Shell International Trading and Shipping Company.
'Our business overall is growing, so quite logically now we are just looking in a medium-term view what enhancements to that strategy would be appropriate to match the growth in our business,' he told reporters at the opening of Sembawang Shipyard's expanded West Yard. 'We take a view that wherever we trade we will have business relationships,' he said, noting the effectiveness of the existing alliances. 'We will have them in other places as the scale of our business grows.'
Mr Kopernicki was coy, however, when asked whether Shell was considering shifting some of its repair and refitting to China, where SembCorp Marine also holds a 30 per cent stake in the Cosco Shipyard Group. 'We as Shell are very interested in China clearly because of the scale of business there and the fact we are an international company that participates in a very large number of countries.
'At the moment we are supervising the construction of the very first liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships to be built in China,' he said.
LNG shipping is growing rapidly and the repair of these specialist vessels is a niche area for Singapore yards.
But a 25-year deal struck by Qatar Gas Transport Company Ltd (Nakilat) for Shell to manage its fleet of at least 27 new LNG carriers will not mean any new work for SembCorp Marine because Nakilat has partnered Keppel Offshore & Marine in developing the Ras Laffan shipyard which will handle the fleet's repairs.
One of the world's largest ship charterers, Shell controls a fleet of over 120 vessels including technical management of 27 LNG carriers and 21 oil tankers, with operational control of another 70 deep-sea oil tankers.
With a repair and refit alliance between Shell and Sembawang Shipyard since 1998, and another with the Sobrena shipyard in Brest, the group is currently reviewing its shipyard policy and strategy, said Jan M Kopernicki, VP Shipping of Shell International Trading and Shipping Company.
'Our business overall is growing, so quite logically now we are just looking in a medium-term view what enhancements to that strategy would be appropriate to match the growth in our business,' he told reporters at the opening of Sembawang Shipyard's expanded West Yard. 'We take a view that wherever we trade we will have business relationships,' he said, noting the effectiveness of the existing alliances. 'We will have them in other places as the scale of our business grows.'
Mr Kopernicki was coy, however, when asked whether Shell was considering shifting some of its repair and refitting to China, where SembCorp Marine also holds a 30 per cent stake in the Cosco Shipyard Group. 'We as Shell are very interested in China clearly because of the scale of business there and the fact we are an international company that participates in a very large number of countries.
'At the moment we are supervising the construction of the very first liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships to be built in China,' he said.
LNG shipping is growing rapidly and the repair of these specialist vessels is a niche area for Singapore yards.
But a 25-year deal struck by Qatar Gas Transport Company Ltd (Nakilat) for Shell to manage its fleet of at least 27 new LNG carriers will not mean any new work for SembCorp Marine because Nakilat has partnered Keppel Offshore & Marine in developing the Ras Laffan shipyard which will handle the fleet's repairs.
One of the world's largest ship charterers, Shell controls a fleet of over 120 vessels including technical management of 27 LNG carriers and 21 oil tankers, with operational control of another 70 deep-sea oil tankers.