Bahrain's Arabian Ship Repair Yard (Asry) experienced a high demand for dry-docking and specialist services during the third quarter of 2002, continuing the trend set during the first half of the year. In all some five ULCCs/VLCCs were docked at the yard during the third quarter.

Totally there were some 21 vessels at the yard during July and this workload was to continue for the rest of the summer period. July, itself, was particularly busy with some 12 vessels being repaired. The beginning of the month saw the graving dock committed to six vessels including the Shaula Star, 301,591dwt, the Olympic Spirit, 96,773dwt, and the Bicas, 91,671dwt. There were also confirmed bookings for a further three VLCCs - the Markab Star, 301227dwt, the Pherkad Star, 301389dwt, and the Hydra Star, 305,846dwt Ñ committed later in the summer.

August saw little let up in the demand for Asry's services with three further VLCCs coming in for repairs, these being Sun Enterprises' Seryna, 240,401dwt, and two from Saudi Arabia's Vela Corporation, the Carina Star, 305,668dwt, and the Hydra Star. Also coming in was the Marium, 133,752dwt. Dry dockings were also completed on the Uco XXX, 30,668dwt, Maro L, 40,967dwt, and the Al Safaniya, 48,350dwt.

September saw the arrival of another VLCC, the Hawk, 306,324dwt, with a further seven vessels undergoing repairs.

The level and diversification of vessels which used Asry during this period included Basrec's 6,000dwt floating dock and NPCC's LB-1 barge along with a number of bulk carriers, chemical tankers, dredgers, a crane ship and naval vessels, clearly illustrating Asry's capabilities in turning its hand to all types of work.

Following three years of trials, Asry recently completed the contract to paint one of Vela Corporation's tankers, the Al Safaniya, with SealCoat's new poison-free antifouling coating. This new paint was developed to counter marine and atmospheric pollution and was successfully applied by one of Asry's specialist painting contractors.

Charles Soud, the manager of SealCoat Gulf, said that he was extremely pleased with the way the contract was completed.

"The support we had from Vela and Asry was exceptional. It was particularly pleasing to see that all the staff in the dock were able to work without the need to be protected with full-face masks and breathing apparatus. We now have the opportunity to massively reduce the future cost of antifouling coatings to the marine industry."

As in the previous six months, the demand for blasting and painting was very high with some 900,000 sq m of painting being completed. This was in line with previous months and shows that demand is still high for quality work. Steelwork repairs and renewals were also high, totalling some 2,700 tonnes, which brings the year's total to date to 6,109 tonnes.

Owners from Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE again provided Asry with the largest number of vessels during the first three quarters of 2002.

This was followed by strong support from Norway, Greece and the UK. Other countries sending vessels to Asry included Brazil, France, Egypt, Monaco, Cyprus, Romania and Russia.