MISC opens office in Dubai to keep finger on pulse of Mideast

 

DUBAI: Malaysian shipping company MISC Bhd has established a regional office in Dubai as the company seeks to further boost its role as a leading transportation partner for the Middle East region.

MISC president and chief executive Amir Hamzah Azizan said the move was based on geography and the company's long-term business plan for its liner services.

It also fits in with MISC's strategy to become a leading provider of safe and trusted transportation for the halal industry.

Speaking at the opening of the MISC Regional Office (Middle East) on Monday night, Amir Hamzah said the region now had a leadership role in the global oil and gas market and was seeing a strong and growing economy.

Amir Hamzah also said that MISC's presence in Dubai would support Malaysian oil and gas giant Petroliam Nasional Bhd's (Petronas) continued growth and expansion in the Middle East. He alluded to Petronas' foray into the Iraqi oil and gas industry, having been recently successful in obtaining development rights to oilfields in Iraq.

Currently, MISC vessels Seri Balhaf and Seri Balqis are servicing the Yemeni LNG (liquefied natural gas) project, delivering LNG to the US and Mexico. MISC's VLCCs (very large crude carriers), Aframaxes and chemical tankers are also calling at main oil and petrochemical terminals in the Gulf region.

Since its inception in 1968 with two ships to its name, MISC has grown into a fully integrated maritime, heavy engineering and logistics services provider with an operating fleet of more than 170 vessels.

On its liner services, Amir Hamzah said MISC had restructured its liner business portfolio to mitigate the effects of the global economic downturn that had severely impacted the global liner industry.

"We are now focused on becoming the leading intra-Asia liner operator, with the Middle East/Indian subcontinent to Asia/Oceania trade being one of our core trade services," he said.

He said MISC was also tapping into the growing halal industry with its Halal Express Service (HES) 1 and 2. "HES 1 and HES 2 are currently seeing 100 per cent and 90 per cent slot utilisation respectively." - Bernama