State-owned Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) has issued tender documents for contracts to design, build and deliver nine new crude oil tankers of various sizes.

Pre-tender meetings will be held on 6 February and bid submissions will be made on 22 February for all three deals.

KOTC has prequalified seven South Korean and Japanese shipyards for the deals:

• Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (South Korea)
• Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea)        
• Hyundai Mipo Dock Yard Company (South Korea)
• Samsung Heavy Industries Company (South Korea)     
• Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation (Japan)    
• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan)
• Sasebo Heavy Industries Company (Japan)    

The first tender covers four new medium-range tankers, between 25,000-45,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt). The second deal will see four new very large crude carriers (VLCCs) built. These are capable of carrying 160,000-320,000 dwt. The final tender is for the construction of an Aframax crude oil tanker, which can carry a maximum of 120,000 dwt, equivalent to 825,000 barrels.

Pre-tender meetings will be held on 6 February and bid submissions will be made on 22 February

KOTC’s fleet currently consists of 21 tankers for transporting crude oil and 12 tankers of various sizes for transporting oil derivatives, as well as four tankers for transporting gas. KOTC signed a $700m deal with Daewoo to build four VLCCs in August 2008 as part of its plan to expand its fleet to 34 vessels by 2020, (MEED 14:8:10).