Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) and Rolls-Royce Marine Middle East recently joined hands to set up a Waterjet Centre of Excellence in Abu Dhabi to provide support services to ADSB customers in the Gulf.

ADSB is the only naval shipyard in the Middle East providing both build and support services for all GCC naval vessels. Rolls-Royce will work with the shipyard to offer training, maintenance, repairs and overhauls, spare parts and service contracts for waterjet customers. These services can also be offered to commercial ship owners operating vessels that have waterjet propulsion.
Rolls-Royce has already provided waterjets for 12 x 24 m Ghannatha-class boats and 4 x 26 m fast supply vessels built by ADSB for the UAE Navy and UAE Coastguard. Rolls-Royce waterjets also help power the six 72 m Baynunah-class corvettes that ADSB is currently building for the UAE Navy.
”This new waterjet service agreement with Rolls-Royce will enable ADSB to offer its customers in the Arabian Gulf an enhanced level of service and long-term regional support that will complement the refits, upgrades and repairs we perform and the new vessels we provide,” said William Saltzer, CEO of ADSB.
“The Waterjets Service Centre will focus on the Arabian Gulf region to offer naval and commercial customers a proactive service that will add value to their operations by bringing together the manufacturers of the vessels and the waterjets that power them,” Esa Uotinen, general manager for the Rolls-Royce marine business in the Middle East, said.
ADSB recently announced its intention to set up a new joint venture company in Abu Dhabi with BVT Surface Fleet Limited to offer regional customers the complete range of naval support services and this new co-operation with Rolls-Royce will further enhance the services to be offered.
A UAE public joint stock company, ADSB was established in 1996 and operates the most modern naval shipyard in the Arabian Gulf. It is the only shipyard in the region with the capability to build, refit, repair and upgrade complex naval warships.
The company is successfully providing products and related services to navies, coast guards and other military, paramilitary and commercial vessel operators throughout the GCC region.
It is listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and its current shareholders are Mubadala 40 per cent, Abu Dhabi Government 10 per cent and several thousand individuals 50 per cent. 
Rolls-Royce, a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, has established a strong position in global markets - civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy. It has a growing presence in the Middle East, where it is playing an important role in the development of the region across all the group’s sectors.
The marine business provides products, service and expertise to more than 20,000 commercial and naval vessels in the offshore, merchant, naval and submarine markets. It employs over 7,000 people in 34 countries and about 40 per cent of marine turnover comes from aftermarket service support, with a global customer support network of sales and service centres in 33 countries.