KOTC's Talal al-Khaled among most influential figures

A leading specialized international magazine has selected Chief Executive of Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah among the world's 50 influential leading figures in the field of maritime transport, the company said on Monday.
The International Tanker Shipping magazine published a special report in its latest issue highlighting "the great achievements of the company in terms of modernization of fleet, keeping up with international changes and meeting the needs of the world's growing high specification tankers to transport oil derivatives and all Kuwait's crude oil, KOTC said in a statement.
According to the magazine, KOTC invested in nine tanker newbuildings with a total value of USD 330 million. The company's expansion program will see Daewoo construct a quartet of 320,000 dwt VLCCs, USD 118 million each and one aframax valued at USD 80 million.
In addition, Hyundai Mipo will contribute four 52,000 dwt MRIs, valued at USD 62.5 million apiece, the magazine said.
All the ships reflect considerable increase over conventional standards designs that, at the time of writing, could be ordered for USD 110 million, USD 48 million and USD 33 million respectively, the International Tanker Shipping noted.
The final phase of the current KOTC expansion program will involve moving into gas with construction of three LNG carriers, it concluded.