Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard (Asry), which has initiated major expansions to enhance services offered to its customers and attract more business, has indicated it expects a modest increase in sales in the New Year.

It said 2010 sales were forecast to reach around $150 million, the figure rising to $175 million the next year. The yard expected to repair more than 200 ships in 2010 against 168 in the previous year.

“Our business projections for 2010 indicate that although we will repair more vessels this year, our sales revenue is expected to be lower than in 2009 reflecting the continued industry trend of focusing primarily on essential repairs,” chief executive Chris Potter said.

“On top of our ongoing expansion, we are also planning to upgrade our workshop machineries and equipment to be more effective using the latest technology,” he added. Asry is set to face further competition from new yards that are starting operations in Qatar and Oman in 2011.

“However, we are confident that the reputation we built over 33 years coupled with our continued investments in capacity and technical infrastructure, we will sustain our competitive advantage,” Potter said.

“We have managed successfully to secure a number of fleet agreements with new owners in the past two years which has resulted in some major repair works for the yard.

“We expect a slight improvement for 2011.”

Expansions assure flexibility 
Expansions currently underway will give the yard additional flexibility to accommodate more vessels for alongside repairs and to ease congestion on existing repair berths.

Asry is constructing a 1,380 m quay wall at a cost of $80 million and the work involves 1,200 m of quay wall with a water depth of 12 m designed to receive 300,000 dwt vessels as well as a 180 m berth for 40,000 dwt vessels.

Nass Contracting, which was awarded the project after an open tender, completed the first 580 m of the quay wall and delivered it to Asry in the first fortnight of December. The remainder of the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.

Another project in the expansion plan is the construction of four tugs. Major design work for the tugs has been completed, keels have been laid and the expectation is that two of the tugs will be ready in 2011 while the other two will be completed in early 2012.

A new administrative block, part of the expansion project, has already been completed.

Repairs completed
Asry completed major jobs for a number of parties including  Reederei Blue Star GmbH, Germany; Odfjell Management, Norway; Pratibha Shipping Co Ltd and Great Offshore Ltd (both from India), Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co, US; Saudi Aramco, Pride International Inc and Arabian Drilling Co (all from Saudi Arabia),  Livestock Transport & Trading Co, Kuwait, and National Petroleum Construction Company, UAE.

The company also completed work for the US Navy, J Ray McDermott Middle East Inc, Oil Field Services Inc, Qatar, A&P Falmouth Ltd, UK; Crowley Technical Management Inc, US, and BW Fleet Management Pte Ltd, Singapore.

In addition to these international customers, the company worked extensively with its regular regional customers.