Odense shipyard gets new owner

The Fredericia yard will be run down gradually and is planned to close at the end of December after which date all activities will be moved to the Lindo shipyard. Already Fayard has drydocked its first ship, the 12,640dwt ro-ro ferry Stena Forerunner, for routine maintenance in drydock 2.

By the beginning of October, the company plans to have dock 4 ready for use while dock 1 and dock 3 will be available in February and July 2011 respectively. This will give the shiprepairer greatly improved capacity and facilities which it hopes will attract more business from Scandinavian and German shipowners and also from players in the offshore market.

According to Allan Palmgren, sales manager at Fayard, the company has no plans to enter the newbuilding market. When fully operational, the company will have four drydocks with the largest one, dock 3, measuring 315/415m x 90m x 8m. There is crane capacity up to 1,000 tonnes, a 700m repair berth, an 8,000m² construction hall and slop/tank disposal facilities.

Meanwhile, the Fredericia yard has recently converted the former Turkish ro-pax ferry

Cesme

into a floating hotel ship for its new owner, the Dutch owned company C-Bed. Built at Wärtsilä’s Turku shipyard in 1974, the 8,893gt ferry has been renamed

Wind Ambition

and can accommodate 140 offshore wind turbine workers in single cabins with full facilities and internet connection.