With demand for repairs surging, Bahrain’s Arab Ship Building and Repair Yard Company (Asry) has announced it has granted approval for constructing a new repair slipway. 

“The past three years have seen a substantial growth in the demand for ship repair services at Asry, particularly in the 120 m to 140 m size of vessels,” said an Asry spokesman. “In fact over 30 per cent of all vessels repaired by the company over the past few years have been in this category. This has meant that Asry has had to commit its floating docks for dry-docking these vessels, which has meant turning away much larger vessels.”
The new slipway will specifically address this niche market.
“Studies clearly illustrate that this is a growing market and Asry fully intends to be in the forefront when it comes to repairing vessels up to some 140 m in length,” the spokesman said.
Preliminary design studies have now been finalised and construction of the new slipway will start next year, once final detailed designs have been completed and a construction contract awarded. Dredging of the slipway basin will start in July this year and the complete facility will be finished in July 2007, ready to take the first vessel. With the construction of this new slipway facility, which can handle three vessels at the same time, Asry also intends to diversify its activities into further newbuilding works and the modification of small- and medium-size vessels. From the onset of this decision, it was recognised that the yard’s current infrastructure did not have a suitable berth for this purpose. Utilising any one of the three docks for new building work would commit the dock for long periods and would have an adverse effect on ship repairs and revenue.
With this in mind it was decided to explore the viability of building a separate facility for this purpose. Following a detailed series of in-depth studies on all aspects of the various methods of docking and undocking vessels of various sizes both for repair and newbuilding, it was finally decided by the management that a slipway was the preferred choice most suitable for use in Asry. The management, after further studies, decided on the size of vessels that the slipway should cater for.
 The limiting sizes for vessels were as follows: maximum length of vessel, 140 m; maximum breadth of vessel, 20 m; extreme draft of vessel, 6 m; displacement of vessel, 5000 T max.  This facility will also significantly increase Asry’s ship repair market share in the small- and medium-size vessels of around 15,000 dwt.
This state-of-the-art slipway will comprise of a waterfront ramp, some 26 m wide and 226 m long with two parallel rails mounted on it full length with a winch located at the top. Suitably designed end-transfer cradles will be located on the rails and can  be lowered into the water or hauled out by the winch as required to ensure the safe handling of the vessels.
The end-transfer cradle comprises a series of modular assemblies which are easily modified for the keel and bilge supports, according to the vessels docking plan. The end-transfer cradle, with a suitable block arrange-ment, is then lowered into the water. The vessel which is to be lifted out is  then securely positioned over the cradle and secured to it. The winch is then used to haul the cradle with the vessel up the ramp to the dry berth. The reverse process is carried out to launch a vessel.
Vessels entering the slipway are docked on the end-transfer cradle and hauled up to the side-transfer cradle which is recessed in a pit so that the rails align with the longitudinal rails on the slipway. The side-transfer cradle is moved laterally, carrying the ship and end-transfer cradle to a side berth. Two side-transfer cradles are required for the two berths. The winch at the top of the slipway may also be used through a system of pulleys to shift the vessel sideways.
Asry has three dry docks, of which Dock No 1 can can dock vessels up to 500,000 dwt, the maximum for the three.
The shipyard has eight berths with a total length of 2,480 m. It is supported by six tug boats of 32 tonnes bollard pull each and one mooring launch.
In 2004, Asry registered sales of $93 million, up by nearly six per cent on the previous year. Last year proved to be a record one for the shipyard with 132 vessels repaired, a majority of which came from the tanker market.
The yard also won a contract to build a 35 m service boat for Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC).  Asry is owned by Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq and Libya.