The history of our Group began in 1968 when our founder, Mr Tan Eng Hai, the father of our Executive Chairman and CEO and Controlling Shareholder, Thomas Tan, and our former executive director and COO, SK Tan started out with several partners, operating and owning lighters and tugs, providing towage and marine transportation services to customers within Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia waters. The businesses were undertaken under the name of "Kim Heng Tugboat Company". Thomas Tan and SK Tan joined the business in 1978 and 1975 respectively, whilst their other siblings joined our Group progressively from 1979 onwards. In 1978, in view of growing business, our Group corporatised itself through the incorporation of "Kim Heng Marine Pte Ltd".
In 1981, as part of our Group's business expansion plans, Alpine Progress was incorporated to, inter alia, function as a special purpose vehicle to acquire and own vessels.
By 1982, our Group had gained invaluable experience in the repair and maintenance of our own fleet of vessels and those in the harbour craft industry. In the same year, we extended our business to provide repair and maintenance services to tugs and barges in the marine and O&G industries. With the increase in international maritime trade and growth of the offshore O&G industry, the demand for offshore rigs and support vessels in Southeast Asia continued to increase.
In 1986, Kim Heng Maritime was set up to provide offshore maritime transportation services which encompassed chartering of vessels and towage of vessels and rigs to offshore platforms throughout Southeast Asia.
In 1987, our Group rented a terrace warehouse at 45 Shipyard Road together with an open storage yard in Jurong Marine Base which had a jetty. Our Group was engaged in supply base management, carried out loading and unloading activities for offshore vessels, rig agency work, and storage and maintenance of equipment related to O&G activities. Our Group rented additional space over the subsequent years from JTC comprising in total four terrace warehouses and an open storage yard in Jurong Marine Base before relocating all our facilities to our current facility at 9 Pandan Crescent in September 1999. This current facility occupies an area of approximately 34,125 m2 with a 137 metre long waterfront, enabling our Group to carry out additional activities, specifically shipbuilding, ship repair and fabrication works.
Leveraging on our experience in the repair and maintenance of tugs and barges, in 1988, Kim Heng Marine Pte Ltd ventured into the repair and maintenance activities for offshore oil rigs at anchorage in response to requests from rig owners. These encompassed fabrication, installation and painting of steel structures on the offshore rigs, provision of specialised oilfield equipment to oil companies and drilling contractors, including drill pipes, line pipes and other tubular products such as handling tools and casings.
In 1992, Kim Heng Marine Pte Ltd changed its name to "Kim Heng Marine & Oilfield Pte Ltd", to better reflect the industries which it served, being mainly the marine and offshore O&G industries.
In 1996, our Group embarked on rig fabrication activities and was awarded a project by Transocean (then known as Sedco Forex Offshore) for fabrication and modification works to be carried out on a semisubmersible rig, Actinia.
In 1997, Kim Heng Tubulars was incorporated to expand into the rental and trading of oilfield equipment and specialty steel tubular products to customers in the offshore O&G industry.
In 1998, our founder, Mr Tan Eng Hai retired from the Group. In the same year, Thomas Tan and SK Tan acquired the shareholdings of Mr Tan Eng Hai as well as those of their other siblings who were involved in the family business. Thomas Tan and SK Tan continued to manage and grow our Group's businesses.
Our Group continued to extend our engineering and shipbuilding services, particularly by securing subcontracting work from major offshore rig builders, such as Keppel FELS, and continued to expand our range of services and business operations to meet customers' needs in the marine and offshore O&G industries.
In 2006, amidst rising demand from the shipbuilding industry, Kim Heng Shipbuilding was incorporated to undertake our shipbuilding and ship engineering and repair operations. The building of barges commenced at our yard at 9 Pandan Crescent. In June 2006, we were granted by JTC, subject to conditions, a 3-year license convertible into a 30-year lease over the plot of land located at 48 Penjuru Road for the construction of a facility. This facility, which is for use as a shipyard and fabrication yard, enables afloat repairs and other shipbuilding activities to be carried out and has an estimated land area of 19,512 m2 with a 68 metre waterfront.
In 2006, we increased our rig fabrication activities by fabricating blocks for the construction of semisubmersible rigs, jack-up rigs and drilling rigs for Keppel FELS. Previously we had engaged in the retrofitting of steel works and installation for oil rigs anchored offshore dealing directly with rig owners, as well as the building of offshore barges including some ballastable barges.
In 2008, we completed our first retrofitting of a pipelaying barge, Jascon 25. We also completed and delivered our first accommodation and pipelay barge, the Aussie 1, in early 2009. Measuring 112 metres by 32 metres by 9 metres, the Aussie 1 is capable of supporting offshore activities for oil & gas exploration and was the first accommodation and pipelay barge built by our Group to be registered and flagged in Australia. The Aussie 1 featured high quality accommodation for up to 292 persons with full amenities and recreational facilities.
We subsequently completed and delivered our second accommodation and pipelay barge, the McDermott LB32, in early 2010 to Hydro Marine Services, Inc. (a subsidiary of McDermott International, Inc). The McDermott LB32 is a 111-metre long accommodation and pipelay barge equipped with 8-point mooring system and pipe tensioning equipment with a capacity of up to 120 metric tonnes. It was designed to lay pipes of up to 60 inches in diameter and has the unique capacity to work in shallow water environments ranging from about 3 to 100 metres. The McDermott LB32 was flagged in Australia and featured high quality offshore accommodation for up to 292 persons.
In May 2013, we completed a re-activation and refurbishment project on a jack-up rig, Randolph Yost, for Shelf Drilling Holdings Ltd. Our work scope included the installation of conductor tensioning system, ballast tank cleaning and painting as well as the commissioning of the annulus flooding system. Other work carried out on the rig included the servicing and commissioning of blowout preventer chain hoist handling systems, rig floor tuggers and casing stabbing board. This project was significant as the Randolph Yost was the first jack-up rig to be brought into our shipyard.
On 2014, our former executive director and COO, SK Tan, had after over 40 years of service to the Group, retired from the Group to allow his younger brother, Tan Keng Hoe Melvin, and his daughter, Chen Biqing, to play a bigger role in the Group.
We believe that we are well positioned to ride on the demand for marine and offshore rig and support services as well as engineering and related services for the O&G industry in the years ahead.
In addition, we have participated in philanthropic efforts, and were involved in the supporting of tsunami relief efforts by supplying marine vessels to the Red Cross and the Singapore Navy to deliver medical supplies and food to Aceh, North Sumatra, Indonesia.
