Large tankers return to ASRY
The Eitzen owned chemical tanker ‘Sichem Falcon’ at ASRY
Following a quiet year in 2010 for large tanker repairs at Bahrain’s Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard (ASRY), the first quarter of 2011 has seen operators of ULCC/VLCCs return to the Arabian Gulf yard in large numbers.
In fact, the first quarter of 2011 saw ASRY repair a total of 73 vessels which included 10 tankers and two LPG carriers. During 2010 the yard repaired a total of 203 vessels.
The company asserts that the recent short period of civil unrest in the Kingdom of Bahrain had no adverse effect on its shiprepair operations. It was in fact business as usual at the yard with ships from both the international and local markets continuing to be repaired on time and to budget.
During the days of unrest ASRY was full, repairing a wide and diverse range of vessels including naval craft, ULCCs, a large containership, an offshore pipelay barge, one of the world’s largest jack-up rigs, a number of large barges and chemical tankers. These vessels came from owners and operators based in the UK, the USA, Bahrain, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait.
Tanker owners showing their confidence in ASRY during the early part of the 2011 included leading operators such as Kuwait Oil Tanker Co, Vela International and Springfield Shipping.
Over the years ASRY has built up a reputation as being one of the world’s leading shiprepair yards for cargo tank blasting and coating work. This reputation has resulted in many of the world’s leading chemical tanker operators being regular customers. In fact, Norway’s Odfjell Group has carried out over 100 drydockings at the Bahrain yard in the past 25 years.
The latest chemical tanker customer at ASRY is Denmark’s Eitzen Chemical. Following the successful drydocking and repair of three of Eitzen’s fleet in 2010, i.e. the 12,928dwt Sichem Marseille, the 12,937dwt Sichem Melbourne and the 25,419dwt Sichem Falcon, the Danish headquartered operator signed a fleet repair agreement with ASRY at the start of 2011.
Commenting on the situation, Chris Potter, ASRY’s chief executive said: ‘Following a number of days earlier this year when tension in Bahrain was high, the authorities have restored calm and at the shipyard the situation is normal. We understand the concerns of our customers. However, we can safely say the worst is over. Fortunately, we have a large expatriate workforce of 4,000 workers within the shipyard, nearly all of whom live on site, so getting to work hasn’t been a problem.
“The government has announced that the ‘state of national safety’ will be lifted on 1 June 2011. What is important now is that we rebuild customers’ confidence in our ability to repair their vessels in a safe and caring environment. This is a firm assurance I can give with the utmost confidence.”
Meanwhile, ASRY’s $188 million facility expansion programme continues apace. The new 1.38km repair quay wall is on schedule for completion by the end of 2011. ASRY has just ordered two dedicated cranes for this facility from Germany’s Ardelt. The cranes are from Ardelt’s Kranich range of level-luffing single-jib cranes running on rails and will be installed and commissioned in March 2012.
These single jib cranes are lightweight, flexible units, offering extremely low maintenance, and tailored to the demanding requirements of shiprepair as well as offshore rig repairs and installation. One of the new cranes will be a Kranich 1000-47, the other a Kranich 1000-28.
The Kranich 1000-47’s main hoist is designed for a SWL of 30 tonnes @ 47m outreach and a SWL of 5 tonnes @ 60m outreach. Maximum hook height of the main hoist is 132m, while maximum outreach is 60m.
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