Hereby  JSC  Latvijas  kuģniecība  ( LASCO ) informs that today, 19 May

2004, the Supervisory Council's consent was given to exercise an option

for building two additional tankers.

The  Shipbuilding Contract for eight MR (middle range) product tankers,

signed  by Crown Navigation Inc. ( LASCO's wholly owned subsidiary) and

3. Maj shipyard in Croatia, provides for an option for Crown Navigation

to order two additional vessels with delivery in 2008.

Separate  Contracts  should  be  prepared  and  signed  to exercise the

above-mentioned option.

The  specification  of  the  two tankers will be similar to that of the

eight  vessels  already  ordered: 51,800-deadweight-ton product tankers

with  double-hull  will  be  constructed to carry both oil and chemical

products.  Also  these  vessels  will be built to ice class, which will

enable to expand considerably the region of their employment.

It  is  planned  that  bank  loans  will cover 70% of the total project

costs, while 30% will be financed by LASCO itself.



Marita Ozolina-Tumanovska

Head of PR Departament

Phone: +371 7020120,

Fax: +371 7820239

E-mail : ozolina@lsc.riga