The Hindu Business Line : Mercator wins MRPL deal for 2nd year in a row

MERCATOR Lines Ltd (MLL) has bagged the annual contract from Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) for shipping the crude oil imported by the ONGC subsidiary from Iran for the next fiscal.

The deal worth Rs 190 crore involves shipping about 6 million tonnes of crude cargo from Kharag Island in Iran to MRPL's refinery in Mangalore from April 1 to March 31, 2005. This requires about 4-6 voyages in a month.

This is Mercator's second successive contract for hauling MRPL's annual crude cargo imports. Mercator had won the deal from MRPL for 2003-04 at a World Scale rate of 112. "The World Scale rate at which the shipping deal was finalised for the next fiscal is little more than the existing contract which expires on March 31," a company official said.

Mercator won the contract against stiff competition from Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd, Essar Shipping Limited and Shipping Corporation of India.

After becoming a subsidiary of ONGC, the annual crude transportation requirements of MRPL is being finalised through Transchart, the centralised chartering wing attached to the Shipping Ministry. As per the existing Government policy, the import contracts of all Government-owned/controlled cargoes on behalf of Central Government Departments/State Government Departments and Public Sector Undertakings under them are to be finalised on free-on-board/free alongside ship basis with centralised shipping arrangements through Transchart.