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Malaysia has strong potential to grow its
maritime and shipbuilding industry in the global
front with the partnering of international
shipping company from a big maritime nation,
says the Chief of Operations of Boustead Naval
Shipyard (BNS) Sdn Bhd, Datuk Pahlawan Ir Jasan
Ahpandi Sulaiman.
He
said the success of BNS in building the Sunborn
III Hotel Ship (HKS III) owned by Sunborn Marine
Malaysia (SMM) Sdn Bhd, a shipping company from
Finland, will be a strong platform on which
Malaysia can develop its industry.
"To me, this partnership is a big opportunity
for Malaysia to go further in the maritime
industry while proving the local company's
capability and ability to the point of engaging
the trust of a foreign country," he said at a
press conference following the launch of HKS 111
here Thursday.
"With the trust and confidence given by SMM to
BNS to build the ship owned by them, this can be
made a stepping stone for Malaysia and Finland
to work together in other areas like economy and
tourism," he said.
Also present at today's event was the Finland's
Ambassador to Malaysia, Tapio Kalevi Saarela and
the President of SMM, Jari Juhani Niemi.
The Sunborn 111 Hotel Ship measuring 140 meter
long, will be the largest and longest ship to be
built in Malaysia.
Jasan Ahpandi said the ship or "tourist hotel on
water" is being built using the latest
technologies and will have features yet to be
seen in other cruise ships.
The ship will be the result of joint work
between SMM and local suppliers and
sub-contractors and international contractors
with BNS as the sub-contractor building the
ship's body.
Still under construction, the ship is expected
to be fully built by end of this year with a
cost of RM300 million and will be docked in
Barcelona, Spain in early 2010 as a tourist
hotel.
Source: Bernama
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