Bahrain’s Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard (Asry) has been in talks with leading Brazilian ship owners Transpetro about a long-term contract between the two companies.
Asry has already repaired four vessels for Transpetro this year and there are four other vessels on the repair schedule before the end of the year.
Transpetro president Sergio Machado, shipping director Agenor Junqueira and executive manager Elizio A Neto visited Asry chairman Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa at his office at the General Organisation of Sea Ports at Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Port.
Machado expressed his appreciation for the care given by Asry for their vessels and crew during the repairs at the shipyard.
Shaikh Daij hailed Transpetro’s long-standing relationship with Asry.
The Brazilian delegation held a meeting with Asry officials headed by chief executive Chris Potter, production general manager Firmino Martins, and ship repair and projects manager Magdy El Sharkawy.
Potter briefed the delegation on Asry’s history, its operations, activities and the latest developments in the company.
Mutual co-operation between the two parties was discussed regarding prices, repair periods, quality levels and safety precautions.
Asry, meanwhile, reported that demand for its services was high in the first half of this year with 62 vessels repaired for a sales value of $103.14 million.
“Overall, Asry has obtained 79 confirmed bookings for the year to date and the third quarter indications are looking equally promising,” the yard said at the end of the first half.
The vessels repaired included 19 tankers along with a variety of containerships, LPG vessels, chemical carriers, Ro-Ro craft, dredgers, tugboats, offshore crane ships, construction jack-up rigs and the Asto Canopus, an FSO destined for the Al Shaheen Field off Qatar for Maersk Oil.
Asry’s second slipway became operational in May. It said the two slipways were probing to be a great success with owners and the yard since they allowed for a faster turnaround for the smaller class of vessel using the slipways, freeing up the docks to take the larger vessels.
Asry said dock occupancy rates remained consistently high with the Graving Dock achieving 100 per cent. Likewise the two floating docks have seen increases in occupancy with 100 per cent for Floating Dock Number 2 and 98.9 per cent for Floating Dock Number 3.
The Arab markets had 22 vessels repaired during the first half. As with any successful yard, there were a number of multiple dockings from a variety of owners including Petrobras from Brazil with six vessels.