January 20 - Safmarine MPV has shipped several steel tanks manufactured by FP Engineering from the South African port of Durban to Gabon's Port Gentil onboard its vessel Safmarine Longa.
The tanks, each of which measured 9 m long by 3.2 m wide, were loaded on Safmarine MPV's West African liner service.
Manufactured by South Africa's FP Engineering, the tanks are the company's first internationally approved and ASME-accredited steel tanks to be delivered to West Africa.
Mark Potter, director and owner of FP Engineering, said: "Although FP Engineering has been shipping to sub-Saharan Africa for more than a decade, the ASME certification which we achieved at the end of 2013 for the construction of boiler and pressure vessels has demonstrated that a South African company has the capability to not only build the specialist pressure vessels needed by the African oil and gas sector, but to do so at international standards and at a lower cost when compared to many other countries."
Safmarine MPV's SAFWAF line manager, Pamela Yerushalmy, also believes that FP Engineering's ASME certification has enhanced South Africa's reputation as a quality provider to the West African oil and gas market.
"FP Engineering's quest is to become a preferred African supplier of steel tanks and pressure vessels to the African oil and gas industry and its ability to provide the industry with the specialist products it needs, at the right quality and the right price, bodes well for both its and South Africa's business prospects with the West African oil and gas sector in 2015," she said.
Yerushalmny added that FP Engineering has chosen to appoint Safmarine MPV as its preferred carrier for 2015.
