Four of the five Malaysian Tenaga LNG carriers in layup. Stavanger May 1983.
LAY-UP STEINSOY STAVANGER "TENAGA EMPAT" 3/1981 - 6/1983 "TENAGA DUA" 8/1981 - 3/1984 "TENAGA LIMA" 9/1981 - 2/1986 "TENAGA TIGA" 12/1981 - 7/1985
Chantiers De Atlantique
Tenaga Lima, Duga, Tiga and Empat laid up its first five years at Steinsøy, Stavanger Norway. Picture above from Stavanger. Tenaga Satu was laid up in France.
The lay-up of the "Tenaga" ships was not an isolated event but rather a direct consequence of a broad and deep crisis in the global shipping industry during that period. The 1979 energy crisis, triggered by the Iranian Revolution, led to a sharp increase in oil prices. Even though the global oil supply only decreased by about 4%, panic among buyers caused crude oil prices to more than double over 12 months. U.S. Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate to unprecedented levels, peaking at around 20% in June 1981. This policy was highly effective at curbing inflation but had severe side effects. Companies cut production, and millions of jobs were lost, causing unemployment to rise to its highest levels since the Great Depression. The U.S. experienced a "double-dip" recession, with a short downturn in 1980 followed by a deeper, longer recession from 1981 to 1982. Because the U.S. economy is so central to global trade and finance, its recession quickly spread worldwide. Other countries also raised their interest rates to combat inflation and to prevent their currencies from depreciating against the U.S. dollar. The high U.S. interest rates also made it more expensive for developing countries to service their debt, much of which was in U.S. dollars, contributing to a global debt crisis. The combined effect of these factors resulted in a deep and synchronized global recession.
