MISC Bhd's new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, Seri Camellia.
KUALA LUMPUR: The overwhelming number of ships in the global and domestic shipping industry will not directly affect MISC Bhd
as the group manages a sustainable income stream, thanks to its long-term contracts in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) segment.
MISC president and group chief executive officer Yee Yang Chien said the current global economic situation might affect its ability to secure new projects but not the contracts in hand.
He said the group’s LNG segment was chasing after projects that could create long sustainable value.
“We avoid following fashion and fads in the industry,” he said, responding to the booming global ships order in 2007.
Yee told Bernama this after his session on MISC as a global shipping player: How we do it at the two-day Malaysian World Maritime Day 2016 Conference and Exhibition which began in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
On prospects of the shipping industry, he said the challenges faced by the industry were now greater due to the longer (downturn) cycle, which had prolonged since 2010.
“I think if we stick to doing what is sustainable (for the business), it would be the key to stay robust and resilient in the industry as the shipping industry is a highly cyclical industry.
“(However) I think unfortunately, there are still excesses in shipping capacity across different types of shipping and it didn’t quite help with the downturn of the oil and gas industry.
“So, it has been a little bit of a double whammy for the shipping industry,” he said.
According to the MISC 2015 annual report, the group’s LNG segment secured a contract from Petronas for five new LNG carriers with a 15-year long-term charter contract and also bagged the charter extension for five Puteri Class carriers on a time charter basis for the next 10 years.
In 2015, MISC made 372 shipments carrying cargoes amounting to 20.74 million tonnes for its customers, carving 8.3% of the total world LNG trade.
Last week, MISC received the first of the five newbuilding LNG carriers, dubbed as Seri Camellia from Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd.
The second carrier will arrive in January 2017, the third in the middle of next year and the rest in early 2018.
MISC’s fleet consists of 26 LNG carriers and two floating storage units. - Bernama
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