History
KOTC was founded in April 1957, by a group of Kuwaiti pioneer investors, who had a vision of how important sea borne transportation would be for the development of oil industry and how essential it becomes to exploit and discover oil in Kuwait.
As Oil becomes the major source of energy and the world demands increased substantially, its transport in crude, refined and liquefied product forms did indeed develop into an important part of the marketing activity. Thus in 1976, the government decided to become a partner to KOTC with a 49 % share capital, thereby providing a strong and vital boost to its development.
Three years later, in June 1979, in conformity with plans to bring all its oil operations, from the well to the ultimate consumer, under one corporation, the government acquired full control of the Company's capital. When Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) was established in January 1980, KOTC assumed responsibility for the transportation sector of KPC.
Fleet Development
Two years after its establishment in 1959, KOTC took delivery of the first crude oil tanker “KAZIMAH” 49,000 Metric Tons. It was the vanguard of oil tanker flying the Kuwaiti flag and in those days it was considered a super tanker.
By 1975 the fleet had been expanded to transport over one million Metric Ton of crude oil, but due to the expansion of refinery capacity in Kuwait , product tankers were also acquired along with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers, by 2001 the fleet reached 25 vessels of different sizes and purposes which had deadweight capacity of 3.2 million Metric Tons. The fleet reached its maximum number in 1993 with a total of 38 vessels and capacity of 4.1 million Metric Tons. In the last decade, KOTC modernized and developed its fleet by building new tankers and scrapping the very old ones.
In line with the company’s mission and strategy to maintain a high standard fleet to cater for KPC’s requirements, the Fleet New Building Projects Group (FNBPG) handles all issues pertaining to fleet renewal projects.
Interacting with various parties from shipyards / vendors, to classification societies / consultants; the FNBPG studies the market and new trends/technologies in the shipbuilding industry, which is adopted in the preparation of the specification for various types of vessels.
Throughout the process of the new building, from plan approval stage, on site supervision of the construction until delivery, the FNBPG has the utmost contribution to ensure high safety and quality standards complying with International Maritime Standards reflected in KOTC governing rules and regulations.