/Reuters Agency
Seatrium Limited, based in Singapore, announced that it reached an agreement to sell its AmFELS Yard shipyard – considered “surplus” – located in Texas, United States. The operation was finalized through a transaction of USD 50.67 million with Karpower Valley, a subsidiary of Karpowership.
The AmFELS shipyard, situated in the Port of Brownsville, is dedicated to the construction of oil and gas platforms, as well as vessels for the energy sector.
It is Seatrium’s only facility in the United States and will be the first for Karpowership, a company that operates the world’s largest fleet of floating power plants – known as powerships – and which is part of the Turkish group Karadeniz Holdings.
The shipbuilding complex recently delivered the Charybdis, a vessel 143.87 meters in length and the first built in the United States for the installation of wind turbines, commissioned by Dominion Energy. The unit was transferred to its base in Virginia. Its construction took five years and had an estimated cost of USD 715 million, according to a regulatory statement from Dominion.
The sale of the AmFELS shipyard occurs in a context where the President of the United States, Donald Trump, is pushing for the reactivation of the American shipbuilding industry, while seeking to curb wind energy projects.
Seatrium was formed following the merger, in 2023, of the Singaporean shipbuilding groups Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore & Marine. Keppel assumed full control of AmFELS in 1992.
The completion of the divestment process is subject to customary closing conditions, including the transfer of the lease contract to the new owner by the Port of Brownsville.
In a statement, Seatrium committed to concluding all ongoing projects at the AmFELS shipyard before the end of 2025, in order to guarantee a smooth transition for its clients and partners.
The company stated that divesting these “surplus facilities” will allow it to improve its operational and capital efficiency.
“We have a strong and long-standing relationship with Karpowership, and we are pleased to entrust the shipyard to a partner with whom we will continue to deepen our collaboration,” said Chris Ong, CEO of Seatrium.
Once the transaction is finalized, Seatrium will shift its strategic presence in the United States to focus on engineering innovation and the development of technological capabilities.
