ASRY pushes ahead with expansion

Despite the continuing global shipping recession, the Bahrain-based shiprepairer ASRY is pushing ahead with its $188m facilities expansion programme at pace, and has even added an extra 180m repair quay to its original plans.

The facilities expansion programme includes the construction of a 1.2km repair quay wall, with an alongside water depth of 12m, a 200,000 sq m offshore fabrication area with load-out quay, a 180m repair quay wall, adjacent to the two slipways which entered service last year, and four new shipyard tugs.

Work on the construction of the new 1.2km repair quay wall, designed by UK-based consulting engineers Royal Haskoning, will begin at the end of November, with completion set for early December 2011.

ASRY?s four new tugs are of a design developed by Singapore?s Sea Tech Solutions and will be built by the Bahrain shipyard itself on land adjacent to the two new slipways and launched using the slipways. A Materials Package for the new tugs is being supplied by Singapore?s Pacific Ocean Engineering & Trading. Keel laying of all four tugs is set for early 2010, with the first two vessels being delivered in mid-2011 and the remaining pair by the end of 2011.

All four tugs will be of an Azimuth Stern Drive design, having a length of 25.80m, a bollard pull of 40 tonnes and a speed, at half load, of 11 knots. The highly manoeuvrable quartet has been designed specifically for docking and berthing operations with the shipyard, as well as for offshore towage. Equipped for fire-fighting operations as well as pollution control duties, the new tugs are also designed for push-pull operations from the bow and towing operations from the stern.