Under the new deal, HHI will provide technical assistance and consulting services in VLCC engineering to IMI, building on a collaboration which began in 2018.

The deal builds on an MoU between IMI, HHI, and Bahri for shipbuilding collaboration signed in June 2019 and a term-sheet for the technical service agreement signed in September 2019.

The agreement was signed by Dr. Abdullah Al Ahmari, Chief Executive Officer of IMI, and Mr. Ohmin Ahn, Executive Vice President at HHI, at the King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Services in Ras Al-Khair, Saudi Arabia.

“We are pleased to further expand our partnership with HHI, one of our four founding JV partners and a key enabler of our progress to date. This agreement reflects HHI’s ongoing commitment to supporting our efforts to build a world-class shipyard capable of locally manufacturing VLCCs and other vessels, that will help drive the development of Saudi Arabia’s maritime industry,” said Ahmari.

Ohmin Ahn, said: “We are delighted to have signed this agreement with our partner, IMI. Working with IMI to leverage our technical expertise and facilitate knowledge transfer and capacity building, we are helping to contribute to the development of the Saudi maritime industry under Vision 2030.”

IMI is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco, Bahri, Lamprell, and HHI, and is the largest shipyard in the MENA region at nearly 12m sq m. It provides new build and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for commercial vessels, including VLCCs, Bulk Carriers, Offshore Support Vessels, and Offshore Jackup rigs.

Source: https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/shipbuilding/imi-and-hhi-sign-vlcc-technical-agreement