Pietro Barbaro Constructs Crude Tankers in Russia
Italian shipper, Pietro Barbaro, announced yesterday its pioneering project in Russia. The company intends to construct a fleet of 12 crude tankers and carry nearly 1 million tons of crude and petroleum by river from 2009. The market analysts say Pietro Barbaro has chosen bad time for launching the business in Russia, where petroleum has been leaving rivers since past year.
Past year, Pietro Barbaro bought out Prime Shipping, which has Russia’s registration, and set to constructing a fleet of 12 vessels. The orders were placed at Kostroma shipbuilder, PeLLa, Oks shipbuilder and Krasnoe Sormovo. Six ships – two barges (4,600 tons each), two tankers (5,000 tons each) and two tow boats – carried around 100,000 tons of petroleum in the test mode over the summer navigation. Putting in operation to capacity is slated for 2008 and all vessels could be used both for river and sea shipments.
The project budget that the EBRD funds by 70 percent is estimated at $100 million. Pietro Barbaro hopes the payback period will last from 10 to 12 years, as it will be able to annually derive $25 million from 2009 by carrying around 800,000 tons of petroleum. The key client of the company is TNK-BP, with which the Italians have sealed a five-year contract already.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 19, 2006
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