DSME Delivers Giant Tanker Named AL-SALMI to Kuwait Oil Tanker Co.

Kuwait Oil Tanker Co. (KOTC) announced Monday it received a giant tanker from Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. The tanker, named Al-Salmi, can carry up to 1.2 million barrels of oil, according to a press release issued by KOTC.

A grand ceremony was held here to mark the commissioning of the tanker which pushed the KOTC’s fleet to 23 tankers. Addressing the ceremony, KOTC Chairman Nabil Bourisly said the tanker joined KOTC fleet as part of “our continuous efforts to modernize the fleet.” The delivery is based on a contract signed by Bourisly and President and CEO of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. Sang-Tae Nam on Koji Island, South Korea on August 21, 2008. “This is the third very-large crude carrier (VLCC) tanker received by the Kuwaiti company under the first phase of the contract, a fourth one of the same type is expected to be received in September, 2011,” Bourisly said.

The second phase of the contract aims to build two other tankers for carrying oil byproducts; the vessels being built by the South Korean company will be commissioned in January and March, 2012, he revealed. He noted that the environment-friendly and fuel-effective VLCC tanker is 330 meters long and 60 m wide with a speed amounting to 16.2 nautical miles an hour.

“KOTC started the first stage of the fleet modernization program in 2002, 16 years ahead of the average expiry date of the tankers, he went on to say. “The second stage, starting from 2008, expanded the carrying capacity of the fleet to 2.5 million tons of oil a year,” he noted.

The modernization program aims to meet the targets of the strategy of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) for 2030, Bourisly added.

Founded in April 1957, by a group of Kuwaiti pioneer investors, KOTC became the major source of energy for the world as demand increased steadily. In 1976, the Kuwaiti government decided to become a partner to KOTC with a 49 percent stake in the capital of the company, thus providing a strong and vital boost to its development.