Malaysia-Japanese Plans to Build Vietnam’s Navy and Coast Guard Ships

KUALA LUMPUR: T7 Marine Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of T7 Global Bhd, has inked a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding Co Ltd (formerly Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding) to venture into opportunities related to the supply of ships to the Vietnam People’s Navy and Vietnam Coast Guard.

In a statement to the Malaysian Stock Exchange (Bursa Malaysia) on Sept 1, its unit T7 Marine Sdn Bhd had on Aug 27 signed an MoU with Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding to work together and also explore business opportunities to supply ships to Vietnam. It did not provide details of the companies plans.

T7 Global, a Malaysian oil and gas service provider, said the agreement would be for three years with an option to renew for another one year.

“The agreement will provide opportunities for the parties to establish collaboration based on the respective party’s expertise and strengths to explore opportunities for ship and/or vessel business in Vietnam,”it said.

T7 Global is a service provider in the areas of offshore maintenance, hook-up and commissioning, and well services.T7 Global secured a few jobs in the first half of the year, with a big chunk of its order book derived from mobile offshore production unit (MOPU) leasing contracts.

Besides oil and gas industry vessels such as oil tankers, bulk and LNG carriers, floating production and storage and offloading systems (FPSO), Japanese major shipyard Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding builds large naval ships and patrol vessels, defence systems and underwater equipment.

Vietnam July 28 this year signed an agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Hanoi to borrow $348.2 million (36.63 billion yen) to build six patrol vessels. The vessels, to be delivered to the Vietnam coast guard by October 2025, would boost the country’s maritime capability, state-owned Vietnam News Agency reported. It did not provide details of the vessels to be built. The 40-year loan has a grace period of 10 years, the report said, adding that the vessels would be built by a Japanese contractor. – shp/mgm