ConstructioN work on the $20 million Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard Co (Asry) slipway project has started.

The contract for the project, to be completed by February 2008, was awarded to Ahmed Mansoor Al A’ali Company. The project, comprising two slipways, each with a dry berth length of 255 m, is designed to handle vessels of up to 15,000 dead weight (dwt).
A company spokesman said this would enable Asry to free about 30 per cent capacity in its existing larger docks, which would then be able to receive larger vessels.
He said the company was also planning to build a 1,000 m quay wall along its basin for the future alongside repairs.
Asry chairman Shaikh Daij bin Salman Al Khalifa recently met Jalal Ahmed Mansoor Al A’ali and Hassan Abdul Aziz Al A’ali from the contracting company in the presence of the Asry chief executive Mohamed Alkhateeb and other executives to discuss the project.
Asry earlier completed the final design and specification for the new slipway. The original design called for a single slipway, some 26 m wide and 226 m long with the capability to handle three vessels at the same time with two side transfer bays.
This capability has now been enhanced to accomodate four vessels at any one time using twin slipways.
In the original design, end transfer cradles were to be located on the rails and lowered into the water or hauled out by a winch as required, to ensure the safe handling of the vessels.
Vessels entering the slipway would be docked on the end transfer cradle and hauled up to the side transfer cradle, which was to be recessed in a pit so that the rails aligned with the longitudinal rails on the slipway.
The side transfer cradles would then move laterally, carrying the ship and end transfer cradle to a side berth. Two side transfer cradles were required for the two berths.
However this original design, after further design studies and analysis has now been enhanced and improved to include two parallel slipways, which are now 255 m long.
This new configuration is now capable of handling four vessels. The way the new slipways have been configured is of the vertical curve design, allowing two vessels to be simultaneously berthed, end-to-end on each slipway.
Both slipways are in parallel with a total width of the slipway being some 64 m. The overall standing area for the vessels is now 275 m.
The limiting sizes for vessels will remain the same for this new configuration with the maximum length of vessels being 140 m and the maximum breadth 20 m with the extreme draft of 6 m and a displacement of 5,000 tonnes maximum per vessel.
Asry which reported strong results for the third quarter of 2006, expects 2006 to be a record year from the momentum gained in previous quarters.
In a statement, Asry said, “The yard has been at full stretch for the past three months, with full order books across the board in all departments. Confirmed bookings were again up on the same period as last year by some 15 per cent, with 37 vessels booked into the yard.
Significantly, the value of contracts has increased and Asry has been successful in winning very large contracts in the rig repair markets, it said.
“Based on the current results to date, there is every likelihood that 2006 will be another record year for the yard,” Asry said