THE FINAL quarter of last year proved exceptionally busy for the Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard (ASRY), with an increase in orders, particularly in the ULCC and VLCC market.
In fact, ASRY reported a 300 per cent increase in orders for these vessels during the period.
Similarly, the level of repair activity was high on vessels in the 40,000 dwt to 100,000 dwt class with more than 12 being drydocked for repairs.
The upturn resulted in the Yard working to full capacity, on many occasions working around the clock to complete the orders.
A total of 29 vessels were repaired during this period. There was also a steady demand for steel renewals during the period, with 766 tonnes being replaced, making a total of more than 4,362 tonnes of steel work during the year. Blasting and painting was buoyant with 830,000 sq m being applied to various vessels, according to the company.
The total number of vessels repaired during the year was in excess of 114. Of these, 11 vessels were more than 175,000 dwt, 10 vessels were in the 70,000 to 175,000 dwt range and the remaining 93 were less than 70,000 dwt. The level of dock occupancy remained constant with the Graving Dock No.1 achieving some 84 per cent occupancy, Floating Dock No.2 was 80 per cent and Floating Dock No.3 was 88 per cent.
Last year, ASRY was awarded a contract by Iran Offshore Engineers for the complete conversion to the ABOUZAR 1200 derrick barge into a deepwater pipelay barge. ASRY believes that such a contract paves the way for it to enter the conversion market for major offshore oil and gasfield contracts.
The Yard continued last year to diversify its activities, winning contracts for major conversion and upgrade work on offshore drill rigs (LEEN for Mansal Offshore and SAR-201 for Saudi Aramco), diving support vessels (SALAMA and SHARQI for Bapco) and dredgers.
Following the outcome of a successful sales visit to the US and Europe, ASRY pre-qualified with a number of the world's leading FPSO and FSO companies, and says that it hopes to be winning orders in this specialist market in the near future.
The Yard has some of the most modern conversion and repair facilities in the world, with a graving dock capable of handling 500,000 dwt VLCCs.
