January 2008 - Keppel Corporation

Business 7
Meeting the expectation of
its customers has been a
motto for Keppel O&M,
whose vision is to be the
provider of choice for its
customers.
At the naming ceremony of
the Sea Apache held recently,
Mr Martin Watts, Area
Director for Gulf Marine
Far East, a subsidiary of
Gulfmark, said, “Keppel has
once again achieved a first
class production of our
vessel. The Sea Apache is the
second delivery of a new
class of vessels that we are
very proud to add to our
fleet. We are expecting four
more deliveries this year, all
from Keppel Singmarine.”
Mr Hoe Eng Hock,
Executive Director of Keppel
Singmarine, said, “This vessel
is delivered well on schedule
despite late delivery of key
equipment. Her performance
during sea trials has also
exceeded the design and
contractual requirements for
bollard pull and speed. We
are very glad to play a part
towards building Gulfmark’s
fleet of over 60 offshore
support vessels, and its
continued expansion into the
Southeast Asian offshore
market.”
Sea Apache is the second of
a fleet of six vessels ordered
by Gulfmark, which provides
marine transportation
services to the energy
industry, primarily in the
North Sea, Southeast Asia
and the Americas. Designed
by Marine Technology
Development (MTD), the ship
R&D arm of Keppel O&M,
she will be deployed in South
East Asia. keppelite
Splashing start for Asia’s first
Ice-breakers
On 29 December 2007 and
14 January 2008, Keppel
Singmarine sent ice-breakers,
H327 and H328 respectively,
off to a splashing start.
H328 was launched before
the onset of a heavy storm.
Just a minute before the
vessel was to slide down the
slipway, heavy big raindrops
fell on the sturdy shoulders
of the team involved in this
milestone. Nevertheless, the
launch went well.
Launching the Ice-breakers is
a milestone for the team at
Keppel Singmarine.
Mr Edmund Lek, GM
(Production) of Keppel
Singmarine, who oversaw
the launching process,
shared, “These two vessels
are by far the largest and
heaviest ever launched in
Keppel Singmarine.
“We did a lot of safety
checks and had intensive
discussions with our
Engineering and Project
teams to ensure that we are
confident of the success of
the project.”
The two vessels will be
deployed in the Barents
and Arctic Seas. They are
designed and built to the
rules and standards of the
Russian Maritime Register
of Shipping, and are
customised in accordance
with the owner’s stringent
Braving the storm at its launch, Ice-breaker H328 achieved its first major milestone
requirements and superior
technical specifications.
The contract to build the
two vessels – a multi-purpose
icebreaking supply vessel
and an auxiliary icebreaker
vessel – was secured on the
back of four Ice-Class Anchor
Handling Tug/Supply (AHTS)
vessels, as well as a Ice-Class
Floating Storage and
Offloading (FSO) vessel
subsequently. keppelite
Keppelite I January 2008