STX Europe on Right Track

European shipbuilder secures order for two drilling support vessels, bringing new orders to 23

STX Europe, formerly Aker Yards of Norway, one of the biggest shipbuilders in the world, said recently it has secured orders for two offshore drilling support vessels from NorSkan Offshore in Brazil, the company said.
The two vessels are 93 meters in length and 22 meters wide and are to be built at its Proma shipyard in Brazil, targeted for delivery in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
The offshore drilling support vessels transport drilling equipment to drilling locations offshore and help install them where they are needed. STX Europe designed a new type of drilling support vessel that can operate in deep seas and the newly developed designs will be used in building the new drilling support vessels for the first time, the company said.
The new orders brought the number of orders for special ships and offshore equipment that STX Europe has received to 23, the company said.
In the meantime, STX Pan-Ocean will participate in the construction and operations of a grain storage facility overseas by joining Itochu of Japan and a U.S. firm in Longview, Texas, of the United States.
STX Pan Ocean will hold a 20 percent stake in the storage house venture, while the U.S. company will share 51 percent and Itochu will retain 29 percent, the company said.
This new joint-venture firm will build a storage facility capable of handling 8 million tons of grains annually along with railroad, wharf and stevedoring facilities scheduled for completion in the fall of 2011, the company said, adding that the new facilities to be built for the first time in the western region of the United States will be able to handle grains faster than existing facilities in the region.
The U.S. partner is a professional grain trading company around the world with $7.5 billion in capital and sales revenue of $52.5 billion last year, while Itochu has $2 billion in capital and annual turnover of $28.5 billion last year.
STX Pan Ocean expects its overseas grain transport business will increase due to its investment in the Longview grain storage facility, while its U.S. and Japanese partners will be able to expand their grain shipments around the world.
The shipping company earlier in the year announced that it will increase its fleet of cargo ships by 17 more than the 11 it acquired last year, making its operations around the world more competitive by investing more than $200 million in new ships.
Vice Chairman Lee Jong-chol said the company will opt to make its operations this year aim for more stable and long-term growth, learning a lesson from its operations in 2009. The shipping firm will go for long-term contracts to firm up a long-term and stable profit base and focus on the development of new markets and the exploration of new business areas.
Chairman Kang Duk-soo of STX Group said he will make sure that the group will see more than three of its business lines at the top in the world by 2020.
He made the announcement at the group’s 2010 strategy meeting held at the STX Mungyeong Training Institute in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, on June 4-5 where some 200 of its affiliate CEOs and top executives of the group were gathered.
He stressed the importance of solidifying the group’s business lines and adding new growth engines while jettisoning those with not much future viability so that the group will be able to put more than three of its business lines among the tops in the world.
The group’s main lines of business consist of shipbuilding, shipping and machinery, in addition to a number of new business lines in such areas as energy, plant construction, general and housing construction, but it still doesn’t have business lines that top the world. Kang feels that the group should work hard to place more than three of its business lines in the lead by 2020 and, in so doing, upgrade all of the businesses the group has been engaged in.
“It’s no longer a question of who will make changes, but who will do it first and faster than any others,” Kang told CEOs and other leading executives of the group at the strategy meeting, adding, “We are in the age of competition for speed of changes.” nw

Chairman Kang Duk-soo of STX Group.