Drydocks World to build fifth yard in Southeast Asia

Drydocks World, the shipbuilding and ship repairing unit of Dubai World expects to start operations at a fifth yard in the Southeast Asia region in 18 months' time, according to company officials.

Dredging work will begin on the 174-hectare (430-acre) site in Batam, Indonesia in late September. The new yard, PT Maritime Centre, will be operated by a 80/20 joint venture between Drydocks and offshore engineering company and land rig builder, Fabtech, according to Drydocks World – SE Asia's CEO Denis Welch.

The key activities at the new yard will be decided after its layout is finalised later this month. However, Drydocks World – SE Asia expects the addition of a fifth yard to provide more flexibility for the company to move up the value chain for shipbuilding, according to Welch. "Most shipyards in the region are building the decks for floating production storage offloading vessels (FPSOs), while the components including the turret mooring systems are supplied from third party contractors," Welch said.

While the company has no firm plans yet to build these modules, Welch believes Drydocks World – SE Asia will have the capacity and capability to do so in future with five yards in operations.

Drydocks World – SE Asia was formed in March to manage the shipyards Dubai-based Drydocks World acquired in Asia, primarily in Singapore and Batam and now operates four yards it acquired after signing deals to buy Pan-United Marine and Labroy Marine last year.

The Singapore yard previously operated under Pan-United Marine now comes under Drydocks World Singapore, and will focus on shipbuilding and ship repair business including FPSO conversions.

Rig building will take place at Drydocks World – Graha's 49-hectare (121-acre) facilities, or previously Labroy Marine's shipyard in Batam, Indonesia. Drydocks World – SE Asia is looking at expanding the Graha yard to accommodate up to eight jackups in the short term and possibly 12 jackups in the long term.

Two other yards in Batam, Drydocks – Nanindah and Drydocks – Pertama are building offshore construction and support vessels. In addition to the yards in Singapore and Indonesia, Drydocks World is in talks to acquire more yard space in China, India and South America, according to Welch. Drydocks World is also in advanced talks to buy a 15.5 hectare (38-acre) yard in Jiangsu province of China.

Drydocks SE Asia order book now stands at $1.5 billion (Dh5.5bn) including options until 2010, including four jackups under construction at Drydocks World – Graha and two large multi-purpose construction vessels at Drydocks – Pertama.

The company is now in talks with SE Asian clients for newbuild jackup orders and seeking to secure a second FPSO conversion contract from Nortechs FPSO.