Eversendai starts sea trials for Aryan

By SHAREN KAUR - March 21, 2018 @ 7:37pm

Ras al-Khaimah: Eversendai Corp Bhd's first fully constructed lift boat, Aryan, began sea trials here this morning (Wednesday), and is targeted to be delivered to the client, Singapore-based Vahana Offshore (S) Pte Ltd by the end of April.

Aryan is one of two lift boats awarded to the Main Market listed firm's subsidiary, Eversendai Offshore RMC FZE. They are built at Eversendai's new fabrication yard in RAK Maritime City here in the United Arab Emirates.

The completion of Aryan is a major milestone for Eversendai and Vahana Offshore. Eversendai Offshore is the flagship Malaysian company to build a lift boat, while Vahana Offshore is the first local firm to own one.

Eversendai Offshore chief executive officer Narish Nathan said that the second lift boat, Arjun, will be ready for sea trials a year from now.

"Vahana Offshore is currently negotiating a few charter contracts for Aryan. The company may sign the deal in the second quarter of this year," Narish said on the sidelines at the official launching of the sea trials.

Vahana Offshore is an oil & gas (O&G) company founded by Eversendai executive chairman and group managing director Tan Sri A.K. Nathan. A.K. Nathan is also a major shareholder of Eversendai.

In 2014, Vahana Offshore awarded Eversendai Offshore a RM580 million contract to design, build and deliver two large lift boats.

Both the lift boats are named after A.K. Nathan's two older grandsons.

Each unit will consist of a rectangular hull and four truss type legs; each with an electric driven rack and pinion jacking system. The lift boat's primary operating capabilities will include a 300 tonnes crane, accommodation for at least 200 personnel and propulsion by its own thrusters to a speed of 5 knots, as well as Dynamic Positioning (DP-2).

"We are very bullish on prospects in the O&G sector and will expand in tandem with market demand. We expect contribution from this sector to increase year-on-year," said A.K. Nathan.

Eversendai is renowned for its extensive experience in the fabrication of highly complex steel works for infrastructures, commercial and industrial buildings as well as the power and O&G sectors.

The group ventured into the O&G sector four years ago through Eversendai Offshore.

It's foray into the O&G offshore and marine sectors will see the group actively partake in the engineering, procurement and construction of jack up rigs, lift boats and related equipment; upgrade and refurbishment of offshore jack up rigs; new build construction for the offshore O&Gs sector including Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) systems and other offshore and onshore modular structures.

For the full financial year ended December 31, 2017, Eversendai reported a net profit of RM86.51 million, versus a net loss of RM278.88 million a year ago. Revenue was 15.67 per cent higher at RM1.83 billion, from RM1.58 billion.

The O&G business contributed to 15.4 per cent of the group's revenue.

Nathan has said that with a fair balance of strength and resilience, prudence and sound enterprise risk management, Eversendai is well positioned to continue its confident performance to deliver strong margins returns in fiscal year 2018.

As at 5pm today, Eversendai shares rose 0.45 sen or 6.47 per cent to 74 sen.