A vessel gets a paint job at the Asry yard

BAHRAIN-based ship and rig repair specialist Asry’s expectations of greater business from European companies received a lift following talks with a visiting delegation from Belgium’s Euronav Shipping Company.

The Euronav team was led by its chief executive Alex Staring and included its general manager for Greece Stamatis Bourboulis. Present at the talks was Asry’s Greek agent Alex Scaramangas.

Asry chief executive Nils Kristian Berge briefed the guests on new developments and on the company’s strategy up to 2017. He also explained the upgrade plan of various facilities and highlighted the ship repair services and the ISO and other quality certificates obtained.

“Asry is keen to attract more ship owners and Greek ships, in particular, because the Greek market is one of the yard’s most important markets, with a long heritage of successful partnerships,” Berge said.

Euronav owns a large fleet of vessels which regularly ply in the Arabian Gulf region.

 

SPECIALIST APPOINTED

Workers at the shipyard

Workers at the shipyard

Meanwhile Asry announced the appointment of Jos Goris as the new general manager of the operations division, effective the beginning of this month. Goris brings more than 20 years’ worth of shipping experience with global leaders such as Damen, Maersk and Shell, with over 12 years of that being in ship repair yards across Asia and the Americas. He will lead the newly restructured operations division of Asry which is the backbone of the yard’s repair capabilities.

“Announcing the addition of Jos to the senior management team,” Berge said, “indicates another step in Asry’s evolution to becoming the region’s primary maritime hub. Jos’s previous experience both client-side and yard-side, will provide a strategic advantage as Asry continues to improve its internal efficiencies and increase its operational excellence.”

Goris, a Dutch national, spent the previous four years as managing director in the shiprepair and conversion division of Damen Shiprepair in Europe. Prior to that, Goris was fleet manager at AP Moller-Maersk & Maersk line for five years, having already completed 15 years in a variety of senior positions at P&O Nedlloyd BV in the Netherlands, Unithai Shipyard in Thailand, and Shell Tankers.