PETRONAS-licensed provider of products and services to the Oil & Gas and Petrochemical industries, Alkahfi Lestari Oil & Gas Sdn Bhd launched its first executive-class fast crew boat (FCB) named 'Alkahfi Care', at the Kemaman Supply Base, in Terengganu last Sunday.

Its chief executive officer, Mohd Nazri Mohd Zain said the launch of the Singapore-made Flex-42X boat was part of the company's efforts to improve service of ferrying crew working at oil rigs within the Malaysian waters.

"Currently we have six medium-sized conventional crew boats, and the launching of the Alkahfi Care complement our FCB segment (for the executive category).”

“Alkahfi Care, our Executive Fast Crewboat, is designed to transport up to 80 offshore personnel in reclining business class seats that are spacious and comfortable – definitely a vast improvement from those found in the conventional crew boats,” he told reporters after the launch.

“With a proven fast ferry hullform and powered by three electronic Caterpillar engines, the Flex-42X can travel at speeds of up to 30 knots or 46 kilometres per hour, making it the fastest mid-sized, triple-screw crewboat in Malaysia,’ he added.

Mohd Nazri pointed out that even at high speeds, the ride comfort of the Executive Crewboat is significantly enhanced by automatic active interceptors, which consist of a row of moveable blades installed on the vessel's rear end. These computer-controlled blades move up and down at ultra-high speeds to keep the vessel on an even keel at all times.

The chairman of the company, Kamal Affandi Hassan said that the launch is one of the key events of the year for Alkahfi Lestari.

“This development is of vital importance to Alkahfi’s economic growth. It is indeed an enormous milestone in the relatively short history of our company,” he added.

Established in 2012, the company began offering such services in 2015.Today, it owns six crewboats serving companies like Petronas Carigali and Repsol, among others. Besides that, it also operates 10 others crewboats in cooperation with their partners.

Mohd Nazri explained that besides Alkahfi Care, the company is expecting to receive another executive FCB to be named Alkahfi Courage within the next two months.

Both boats are exclusively built by its partner Singapore-based Penguin Shipyard.

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