RAS AL-KHAIMAH (March 22): Eversendai Corp Bhd is confident that its first-completed liftboat Vahana Aryan will secure a charter contract within the next two to three months, as demand for liftboats is overwhelming supply worldwide. 

Yesterday (March 21), Eversendai launched the sea trial of Vahana Aryan, which has a capacity to accommodate 200 men with a 300-tonne crane for servicing wellhead platforms in the oil and gas industry.

According to Eversendai, Vahana Aryan can be elevated on location, thus, improve productivity by eliminating downtime caused by rough weather.

“We have not signed any charter contracts yet, but the amount of enquiries and opportunities that are there for us to capitalise on, is very high,” Eversendai executive chairman and group managing director Tan Sri A K Nathan told reporters at the launch of the liftboat’s sea trial at the company’s fabrication and shipping yard in Ras al-Khaimah, the United Arab Emirates. 

Nathan said the current mismatch of demand and supply of liftboats in the oil and gas industry opens up an opportunity for Eversendai to command a respectable level in liftboat charter rates. 

Meanwhile, construction of Eversendai's second liftboat Arjun is in progress. Nathan said the construction of Arjun is about 30% completed but has been temporarily put on hold. He said Eversendai is waiting for the bank loan to finance Arjun's construction to be released, pending a charter contract for Vahana Aryan.

This is based on the conditional financing agreement between Eversendai and its bank, according to Nathan. 

“Once we get the charter contract for Aryan, then we can get the banking facility for the second unit. We are confident that we will be able to embark on it and kickstart the project soon, because we already procured some fair amount of equipments and materials,” he added.

At Bursa Malaysia today, Eversendai shares were traded at 75 sen at 10:24am. The stock saw 86,500 shares traded.