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Drydocks Dubai to Deliver Eight Vessels

Six of these vessels meant primarily for conducting geological surveys on the seabed will be delivered to Polarcus, a Dubai-based company while the other two are meant for Western Geco of of global firm Schlumberger Group, Nawal told Khaleej Times on the sideline of Middle East Workboats 2009 exhibition and conference.

He said the first one will be delivered middle of next month and all the remaining seven at a gap of approximately one and a half months each from there. All the ships will be about 83 meters long, and will be similar in design, though not identical. Each of hem will carry 24 researchers on board and another 24 personnel as crew.

He declined to give the cost of these ships saying that‘ we cannot disclose the figures as we are a government company.’’ Drydocks World, Dubai which was started in 1983 with about 450 employees has now emerged as one of the largest ship repairing units in the world employing about 9000 people. The ompany started a ship conversion facility in 1999 and the ship building unit in 2002. “Right now we are converting four vessels now and the first one will be delivered later this month. All the other three will also be delivered before the middle 
of next year.

“On an average repair works on 22 to 26 vessels will begoing on in our dry docks and wet berths. But these numbers vary depending on the size of the vessel. We have repaired huge vesselsof 400 meters in length.’’

“The downturn seems to have not made much impact on the ship maintenance and repairing industry, and we have taken all precautionary measures to mitigatethe impact last year itself. We have a sustainable and healthy business plan and are confident of achieving good results as per our budgetary estimates.’’

“We will also be managing the industrial precincts of Dubai Maritime City which will become operational by the end of this year. This will contribute significantly to our growth plans,” Nawal said. Drydocks World - Dubai is the flagship yard of Drydocks World, which is a Dubai World company.Drydocks World - Dubai is the largest and most modern facility between Europe and the Far East. It hadrecentlyacquired four fully operational facilities; one in Singapore and three in Batam
 Island, Indonesia. Meanwhile, Executive vice chairman of Drydocks World Hamed Mohammed bin Lahej,said The company has been taking steps to reduce the carbon dioxide emission to zero in their yards in upcoming years,

“We have started using state-of-the-art technologies in our yards which we hope all our boats will be environment-friendly.”

The environmental initiatives are our key focus. More hydro-blasting has cut the use of grit by 50 per cent and investment in four robotic bull-blasting machines which use a combination of grit and water is another step forward, Lahej said. The company has 18 boats including two semi-submersibles in Batam, Indonesia, he added. “In our yards everything is 
recyclable,” he said.

· ramavarman@khaleejtimes.ae
 — anwar@khaleejtimes.com