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BUILDING SHIPS BY MANAGED SUBCONTRACTING
The establishment of Skaugen Marine Construction (SMC) in Shanghai and as a business unit of I.M. Skaugen Group is a significant new phase in the development of the company’s newbuilding programme and also of our activities in China.
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SMC – Ships More Competitive
SMC was created so IMS could effectively streamline the processes to manage and coordinate the newbuilding activities in China and secure the internal demand for cost-effective replacement and expansion tonnage. SMC uses our own skilled in-house expertise, but could not function successfully without making full use of our partnerships and joint ventures with various subcontractors.
The third-party relationships with subcontractors are keys to the financial and operational success of SMC. Our relationships - primarily with our two Chinese joint venture partners -set this programme apart from anything else being undertaken in China today.
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Design and Engineering
SMC has, together with Carl Bro (a Danish design firm), designed entirely new and unique highly efficient cargo cooling plant systems for our gas carriers - spending more than 25,000 man-hours doing so. Carl Bro is also our long-term partner for conceptual and basic design of the ships themselves.
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Procurement
SMC has in-house purchasing and financing/accounting departments. These teams are heavily involved in all procurement matters for our newbuilding projects, from the budgeting and design stage through qualification of makers, to orders and storage in the yard. Critical to these functions is the ability to source both major equipment and smaller components for construction in a timely manner and at the best possible prices.
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Hull Construction
The first of our partners is Taizhou Wuzhou Shipyard. Through managed cash investments in the yard’s infrastructure via our cooperative joint venture, called Skaugen Wuzhou Shipbuilding, we have obtained operational control over the shipbuilding process at the yard, while the facility has been significantly upgraded with new infrastructure allowing it to produce high quality, state-of-the-art ships built to our exacting requirements and in an efficient way.
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Cargo Plant
The second joint venture which makes this whole project unique is with Shenghui Gas & Chemical Systems in Zhangjiagang, a maker of non-standard pressure vessels, cryogenic equipment and spherical tanks, as well as gas cargo plant components and systems. All are products for today’s petrochemical and oil refining industry, as well as for gas carriers built in Korea and Japan. IMS has taken a 50/50 equity stake in the company as it is one of the few manufacturers in China that can produce the marine-related equipment and components needed for the cargo plants for our new sophisticated gas carriers.
By far the most important part of the newbuilding programme for the gas carriers is the manufacturing of the complete cargo plants. This includes everything from the loading and discharge systems, the cooling plant and the reliquefaction plant for the LNG, the cargo tanks themselves, right through to assembly, outfitting and commissioning, testing and verification of the ships.
Shenghui is a very professional organisation that has worked successfully with foreign companies and, most importantly, is eager to learn about new ways of working which can develop the business.
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Result
The fruits of these relationships will be seen through industry-leading gas carriers, built to specifications that meet our high demands, delivered on-time and within budget. And the first tangible result has already been proven as we took delivery of the first of these vessels, Mei Wen Ti, on 3rd January, 2007. Testimony indeed of the success of SMC.
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