Strategic Marine launches floating dry dock

Strategic Marine has launched the base of the floating dry dock it has on order from the Australian Marine Complex (AMC) on schedule from its Vietnamese shipyard.

The dock?s 4,400 tonne base was launched from the company?s facility at Dong Xuyen Industrial Zone at Ba-Riang Vung Tau. The 99m long and 53m wide base was then lifted aboard a Dockside submersible vessel “The Teal” for its eight-day journey to the AMC at Henderson in Western Australia.

The method employed for the launch used dozens of long sausage-shaped fenders which were inflated to their full diameter of 1.5m to lift the base of the dock off the 1m pedestal it was resting on. The dock was then rolled slowly down a ramp into the ocean.

Once the dock arrives at Henderson, Strategic Marine has two months to fit the dock?s 840 tonne superstructure and four months to ensure all of the machinery works before the completed dock is commissioned and handed over in July.