International Maritime Industries (IMI), Saudi Arabia’s new joint venture shipyard, will hold guaranteed offtake agreements for ships and rigs worth $10 billion.
IMI Shipyard revealed during the Posidonia 2024 that one of its shareholders, the national shipping carrier of Saudi Arabia (Bahri), has committed to ordering billions of dollars worth of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) from the yard, while IMI is looking to partner with the Greek shipping company for shipbuilding. IMI and Bahri have already reached preliminary agreements on a number of shipbuilding projects.
IMI will be “the only shipyard in the world to have guaranteed offtake agreements for ships and offshore drilling rigs worth $10 billion over 10 years,” according to a media report, which said Bahri will place orders for about 20 VLCCs with IMI based on a framework agreement.
In 2017, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, the shipbuilding subsidiary of HD Hyundai Group, Saudi Aramco, Bahri, and Lamprell of the UAE announced the establishment of IMI as a joint venture and hold 20%, 40%, 20%, and 20% stakes in the yard, respectively.IMI was originally scheduled to begin production in late 2020 and full commissioning in 2022, but due to theCOVID-19 pandemic and other factors have delayed full commissioning until later in 2024 or January 2025.
Located in Ras Al-Khair, the shipyard covers an area of 12 million square meters and is equipped with 3 large shipyards, 4 Goliath cranes and 7 jetties, etc. It can build more than 40 ships per year, and can provide newbuilding and ship repairing business, covering various types of ships, such as VLCCs, bulker carriers, product oil tankers, offshore vessels, and drilling platforms, etc., and aims to become the largest integrated shipyard in the Middle East and North Africa region.
In 2022, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries signed a technology transfer agreement with IMI to provide technical support and consulting services for the construction of VLCCs at the joint-venture shipyard, and will receive royalties from each newbuilding. IMI thus became the first overseas shipyard in the history of the Korean shipbuilding industry to build vessels on a “royalty” basis. Later in 2023, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries sent more than 100 employees, including office staff and production technicians, to the joint venture shipyard.
With its commissioning date approaching, IMI is looking to partner with shipping companies outside of its shareholder base for shipbuilding.Under an agreement signed on the occasion of the Posidonia 2024, IMI has engaged Athens-based maritime services provider Franman as its exclusive agent for shipbuilding in Greece and Cyprus. Significantly, the cooperation agreement with IMI also marks Franman’s return to the shipyard agency business after a 10-year hiatus.
IMI Shipyard is said to be a part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a billions of dollars worth of investment plans to diversify and modernize Saudi Arabia’s economy.
Not long ago, Italian Fincantieri, one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups, expanded its cooperation with Saudi Arabia through its newly established Saudi Arabian shipbuilding subsidiary, Fincantieri Arabia, reinforcing its commitment to the Saudi Arabian shipbuilding industry and Vision 2030, and highlighting its cutting-edge technologies and sustainable capabilities.
Specifically, Fincantieri will aim to leverage its unique global strengths as a vertically integrated business model and its expertise in the cruise, defense and offshore sectors to drive achievement of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030; while transferring shipbuilding expertise in the cruise ship, defense and offshore sectors and creating opportunities for Saudi Arabian nationals.