DUQM -- The state-owned Oman Dry Dock Company (ODC) is firming up plans for the addition of a floating dry dock to its world-class ship repair and maintenance yard within the Port of Duqm. The proposed facility will enable ODC to dry dock small and medium-sized vessels and thereby free up the yard's two giant graving docks for larger ships, according to Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Futaisi, Transport and Communications Minister.
"We are hoping very soon we to start working on a floating dry dock within (ODC's yard) so that we can maintain small sized vessels that do not need to enter the dry dock itself," Dr Al Futaisi said in comments to journalists on the sidelines of a ceremony to mark the grand opening of the yard here yesterday.
His Highness Sayyid Hamad bin Thuwaini al Said led a distinguished gathering of ministers, under-secretaries, representatives of the Majlis Ash'shura and Majlis Addawla, diplomats, walis and local dignitaries at the ceremony. It was held in the shadow of the imposing dry dock with local folk troupes delighting the audience with a wide repertory of traditional dances.
"This is a significant development in Oman's maritime industry," said Dr Al Futaisi. "The yard's successful completion and operation for the last one year goes to show that Oman is capable of building and handling major projects of this nature. Historically Oman is known for its shipbuilding activities. With this project, we are entering a new phase with a modern facility equipped to handle big vessels. We are hoping this project along with the Port of Duqm will be the centre of attraction for the entire city of Duqm. We will build around it lots of other supporting projects and other SMEs," he added.
According to M J Park, CEO of Oman Dry Dock Company (ODC), plans for the floating dry dock project are currently under finalisation. A team of experts from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), which is partnering ODC in the operation and management of the yard, had visited the Sultanate last week to review all of the major milestones with regard to the floating dry dock initiative.
"We will present a report on the project to the Steering Committee by end of this month. Then, we will start the engineering work on the project, and the floating facility itself is targeted for completion by end 2014 or early 2015. It will be a Panamax-size facility suitable for small and medium sized vessels, not only of the commercial but military vessels as well," Park stated.
Earlier, the CEO expressed his pride and delight at the formal inauguration of the yard. "We are happy with the progress we have made so far. Since we started experimental operations in April last year, we succeeded in delivering 85 vessels on time. Of this number, we delivered 47 vessels last year. By end-May this year, we delivered 40 ships. But, while we were focused on small and mid-sized ships last year, this year our focus has shifted to Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), LNG tankers, large product tankers, and so on. We will be continuously improving our maintenance and repair capacity," he said.
The facility has also secured a number of certifications that attest to its all-round capability, said Park. "We achieved the one-million LTI milestone last month. We are also proud to have won ABS's ISO 9001 and 18001 certifications for quality and Health & Safety. We are also expecting the environment certification by October this year. All of this means we are ready to take the next big leap."
In addition to its core business of maintaining and repairing ships, ODC is also gearing up to offer a range of industrial services, pertaining primarily to the construction and fabrication of modular offshore structures, repair of jack-up rigs, and so on. This component of ODC's business will be pursued in collaboration with world-class specialists DSME, he said.
"We have advanced facilities and enough space to build jack-up rigs, fabricate steel structures and undertake related industrial works. Steel structures of approximately 1,000 tonnes are the ideal scale for our yard. In this regard, we are co-operating with DSME, who are doing well in this kind of business. We need their support in terms of marketing, engineering and procurement, while we concentrate on construction and fabrication at ODC. In the future, we plan to increase our capability to cover engineering, procurement and marketing."
Park also saw opportunity to co-operate with L&T Modular Yard in the joint implementation of major offshore projects. Representatives from L&T's Sohar Port facility had visited Duqm last week to explore options for co-operation in the implementation of a major project for Indian hydrocarbon giant ONGC.
"This is a good opportunity for a win-win situation. L&T could handle the engineering and procurement, while we provide the manpower, fabrication and construction. We can complement each other on such projects," the CEO added.
© Oman Daily Observer 2012
