Laugfs to get 2nd ship by month end
Laugfs Gas PLC (LGL), an energy group, through its new subsidiary Laugfs Maritime Services Pvt Ltd (LMS) is wrapping up the final loose ends to purchase its second vessel to transport downstream Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), officials said.
This has come on the back of a similar purchase last year, which came at a cost of US$ 6.9 million, with officials saying that the new ship will also cost about the same and is scheduled to arrive by month end. They said that a second ship, bought from Greece, was needed to cater to the burgeoning LPG demand. “The LPG prices are coming down significantly and the demand for LPG is rising, where it has come to a point that we cannot cope with it,” an official told the Business Times, explaining that LMS wants to own, operate, hire and charter various types and size of ships including LPG vessel and other type of vessels that can carry various energy products.
He added that the Laugfs Group has plans to control their logistics on their own. In a bid to carry this plan forward, Laugfs’s fully owned subsidiary Laugfs Terminal Ltd, entered into a business venture with Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to set up a LPG storage terminal project at the Hambantota Mahinda Rajapaksa Port last year. Laugfs will lease land for two projects, one of which will be to establish an LPG storage and distribution plant at a cost of $20 million while a less expensive effort will be made to build a lubricants blending plant with a capacity of 50 000 metric tons per annum at a cost of $1.14 million.
LGL now primarily engages in the operations of import, storage, filling, distribution and sale of LPG. Its plant in Mabima in the Western Province contains a storage facility of 3,000 MT. LGL operates as the only private – sector owned-gas company with a market share of 30 per cent in a duopoly market with state owned Litro Gas as its sole competitor. LGL’s operations cater to the domestic sub sector, commercial sub sector and industrial bulk sector.
Laugfs’ other sectors including vehicle emission testing (VET), leisure, mini hydro power generation, property development and transport and logistics via five subsidiaries Laugfs Eco Sri (Pvt) Ltd, Laugfs Leisure Ltd, Laugfs Power Ltd and Laugfs Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd.