Trada Maritime to spend $400m for coal mine
Listed shipping firm Trada Maritime plans to add another coal asset to its business portfolio, seeking the acquisition of a mine in West Kutai district, East Kalimantan, according to the company’s president director, Danny Sihanouk de Mita, SinoShipNews reports.
“We will acquire a 5,350-hectare [coal] mine from Zakia Limited, a Saudi firm,” Danny said over the weekend. He added that the acquisition will cost around $400 million and will be concluded by the first semester of next year.
“The mine is estimated to contain some 100 million [tons] in coal reserves,” he added.
To conclude the transaction, Trada will organize a shareholders meeting to secure approval, Danny said. He added that the company also needs permission from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, one of its creditors.
Established in 1998, Trada provides transportation services for dry and liquid bulk loads of various energy-related commodities including oil, gas and coal.
It currently operates 33 vessels of all sizes, including floating storage offloading ships, and oil and LNG carriers. In 2010, it acquired a coal mine in Kalimantan, marking the company’s first foray into the mining business.
Danny said Trada was planning to spend as much as $200 million to procure 30 to 50 tug-barge vessels over the next few years. “This procurement will be performed in stages. Every year, [we will procure] 10 vessels,” he added.
Trada expects to receive the delivery of three tug-and-barge vessels early next year, Danny said. He said the company needed to procure more vessels, as it hoped to win a 10-year coal shipment contract worth $700 million.
During the first nine months, Trada generated net income of Rp 39 billion ($4 million), a 59 percent decrease from Rp 94.6 billion in the same period last year.
Its revenue, though, climbed 5.6 percent to Rp 431.3 billion from Rp 408.3 billion a year earlier.
Indonesia’s mining industry, particularly coal, has struggled this year against depressed commodities prices.
The government’s coal benchmark price in December was $81.75 per metric ton, 27 percent lower than the price in the same month last year, which stood at $112.67 a ton. Trada’s shares climbed 1.9 percent to Rp 1,080 on Friday.
