Shin Yang's domestic container feeder vessel, MV Danum 112 at Northport wharf. - Filepic
KUCHING: Shin Yang Group Bhd
(SYG) has secured 12 new shipbuilding and ship repair contracts in the 12 months to June 30, 2023 (FY23).
The five new shipbuilding contracts boosted the group’s shipbuilding division’s order book to RM175.7mil, while the seven ship repair contracts raised the ship repair division’s order book to RM89.3mil.
Group executive chairman Tan Sri Ling Chiong Ho said its shipbuilding segment has showed signs of a stable recovery path from the capital expenditures by the oil and gas industry players, coupled with improvement in crude oil prices.
“The order books for ship repair and docking effect maintenance has also shown a gradual recovery,” he added in the company’s 2023 annual report.
In FY23, SYG delivered one new vessel to its client and repaired a total of 585 units of vessels.
SYG owns and operates three shipbuilding yards in Kuala Baram, Miri and a fourth in Bintulu with annual capacity to construct 40 vessels based on 100m length vessel.
It also has one shipbuilding yard in Tanjung Manis, central Sarawak for future expansion.
The company’s 160m and 80m-long floating docks have enabled improved vessel repair and maintenance works to be carried out effectively.
“In the shipbuilding sector, the emphasis is on taking aggressive steps to build valued new vessels and to strengthen our floating dock facility, which would enable us to carry out improved vessel maintenance works and also effectively carry out docking essential empowering works to meet the niche requirement markets,” said Ling.
In FY23, SYG posted a 27.8% jump in net profit to RM182.6mil versus RM142.8mil in the previous year on the back of 5.2% increase in revenue to RM939.6mil.
Ling attributed the commendable performance to high utilisation of shipping spaces for container vessels and bulk carriers for transportation and logistics services.
During the year, SYG maintained its fleet of 199 vessels with a gross tonnage of about 326,000 tonnages against 225 vessels with combined 349,000 tonnages in FY22.
Its container vessels transported 196,354 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) lifting capacity versus 215,500 TEUs in FY22.
The company currently operates 16 containers ships that ply between Sarawak and Singapore and serving ports between Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah.
Two container vessels with carrying capacities of between 800 TEUs and 1,000 TEUs per trip are deployed between the Sarawak and Singapore sector.
It has converted two tug-and-barges to transport containers for shorter routes to ensure that there is no shortage of shipping spaces.
Besides, the group has leased out two container vessels for shipping operations between China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
“With the continuous improvement in terms of fleet efficiency, route enhancement and plying speed of our vessel fleets, the group is expected to increase its containers shipping scope.
“We will do this by establishing strategic alliance with business partners to provide efficient and effective port services while the partners will aim to achieve economies of scale to increasing shipping service frequency routes from our 16 units of container vessels.
“As part of our strategic growth plan, we leverage our expertise in warehousing and third-party logistics to solidify our position as a one-stop service provider,” said Ling.
For international shipping, SYG’s five double decker cargo vessels transported 467,000 cubic m of cargo with freight rates of between US$42 and US$54 per cubic m to the Far East regions in FY23.
For the returning inboard routes, these vessels were mainly on time charter for shipments of general cargo from Far East regions to the Philippines and other Asean countries, en route to the home region.
The company is also involved in dry bulk shipments, transporting timber products, quarry, aggregate, sand, equipment and machinery and other cargoes between key ports in Sarawak and Sabah, Port Klang, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia on a regular basis.
On liquid bulk transportation, SYG has an on-going five-year contract of affreightment with PETRONAS Chemical Marketing (Labuan) Ltd to ship methanol products from Labuan via vessel with parcel size below 1,500 tonnes.Ling said the shipment of liquid bulk from the tankers has shown its earnings stability.
On prospects, he said the continuous infrastructure development priortised by the Sarawak government has created numerous supporting spin-off shipping business activities.
These include the requirement for shipping and third-party logistics for the resource-based projects.
With the ever-growing popularity of online purchases, SYG recognises a higher demand for logistics and haulage services.
It sees the potential in container depots and haulage services, including trucking and warehouse services, as another opportunity for the company.
