Singapore goes to Dubai for new MRs

Dubai Drydocks (DD), a market leader in ship repair and conversions, has concluded an agreement with Singapore-based Navig8 Shipmanagement Pte Ltd to build four medium range (MR) product tankers, with an option for four more vessels.

The deal is valued at $175 million and is the biggest-ever signed by DD and will launch the company into the arena of building larger merchant vessels.

Steel cutting for the first of the four confirmed 50,000 dwt chemical carriers is scheduled to begin in May 2008. The vessels will be delivered between 2009 and 2010 under a staggered timeline being worked out between the two sides. A deal on the option for four more tankers will be considered by December 2007.

Dubai Drydocks, which launched new shipbuilding operations only last year, won the contract from Navig8 after beating back tough competition from several major international rivals. The MR tankers will be built according to proven designs provided from Korea and will comply with the latest common structural rules (CSR).

The deal assumes strategic significance since it follows closely the successful foray into the highly competitive Far Eastern market by Dubai Drydocks’ parent company, Drydocks World through the acquisition of a controlling stake in Pan-United Marine Limited (PUM), one of Singapore’s largest shipyards.

Work on the Navig8 tankers will begin after the completion of work on two 16,500 dwt semi-submersible steel hulls for the Norwegian company Aker Kvaerner.

DD entered the capital intensive business of ship building in 2004-05. Following the completion of an $81 million expansion project that included the development of the northern side of its massive yard into a modern fabrication yard, it has established itself as a major ship builder at the global level. The company employs over 8,500 workers.