CM: Ship export to hit RM1 bln

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IMPRESSIVE: Taib (right) and others listening attentively to a briefing by Tiong (second right).

MIRI: The robust offshore industry, including those in Malaysia, is expected to further boost development of the ship building industry in Sarawak.

Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said last year the state exported RM500 million worth of ships to the world, and this year the export value is projected to hit RM1 billion.

“So, you can see, the ship building industry in Sarawak has grown quite steadily, and that is why ship and marine engineering is one of the 10 areas of industries which is encouraged very much by the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE),” he said when launching Malaysia’s first diesel-electric multi-purpose platform support vessel, Nam Cheong 800 (NC800), at Kuala Baram here yesterday.

MC800 is also the largest vessel built in Malaysia by home-grown Nam Cheong – Malaysia’s largest Offshore Support Vessel (OSV) builder and SGX Main Board-listed leading global offshore marine player.

Taib said the building of the vessel and how it benefited Miri represented a classic example of how areas outside SCORE could benefit from the development of strategies of SCORE.

As such, he advised the industry players to foster close consultation with the government to ensure more positive growth of the industry.

He added that under SCORE Sarawak was undergoing the fastest growth in technical manpower, and the migration from an agricultural and forestry economy to that of a more industrialised one.

“We are expecting over RM200 billion worth of investment under SCORE and that will trigger a lot of varied activities, all which are going to require the build-up of technical education.

“Sarawak is today trying to build up this quest for technical education and will have to have a sustained programme in the next 20 years to give all levels of technical education from universities to that of certificate level of skilled labour.”

To achieve such goal, the partnership between the government and the industries must be developed.

On the launch of NC800, the first in Malaysia to use diesel and electric, Taib said it augured well as it gave green technology to the gas and oil industry.

“Congratulations to Bumi Armada (buyer of the vessel) for its enterprising spirit to jointly undertake this ship building industry in Miri  to be one step further in getting greener technology and to make sure to continually support the growth of the downstream industry technology in the oil and gas exploration industry.”

He said the partnership between the two companies over the years had been responsible in boosting the downstream industry in Sarawak since 2010, mainly through the production of petroleum and later on gas in Bintulu.

Taib added that he was also pleased that Nam Cheong and Bumi Armada were working closely with Shell and Petronas.

He assured them of the government’s continued support towards their collaboration.

Among those present were Assistant Minister of Communications Datuk Lee Kim Shin, Miri Resident Antonio Kahti Galis, Miri mayor Lawrence Lai, Bumi Armada chief financial officer Rezza Hassan, and Nam Cheong executive chairman cum chief executive officer Datuk Tiong Su Kouk.