Pictured during the ceremony: Mr Kommer Damen, Mr. Ali Albwardy, H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin mohammed Al Qasimi the Ruler of Sharjah.
Monday, January 13th witnessed the official opening ceremony of Damen Shipyards Sharjah FZE – the newest shipyard of Albwardy Marine Engineering. In a joint venture between the Damen Shipyards Group and Albwardy Marine Engineering, the core activities at DSS will continue along the tried and trusted course of Damen new-builds and Albwardy’s conversions, dry-dockings and repairs.
Damen Shipyards Sharjah is conveniently located in the Sharjah Hamriyah Free-zone. The spacious new yard, located on a huge 284, 000 square metre site, has direct and unrestricted access to the sea and meets the highest standards of modern ship construction and repair.
The facility is equipped with a 120 x 26.5 metre ship-lift, with a 5, 200 ton capacity and is connected to eight dry-berths, each of which is 125 metres in length. It also features a fully enclosed blasting and painting shed and an under-cover new build construction hall. There is also extensive adjacent repair space, with 1, 200 metres of quay with a water depth up to nine metres. Up and running for some time now, DSS has the facilities to repair and construct all type of vessels, and has recently delivered tugs, workboats, support vessels, dredgers, landing craft, floating docks, barges and pontoons. The yard can proudly display a healthy order book that presently consists of contracts for two multicats, two shoalbusters, two barges, one aluminium crew boat and not less than ten ASD tugs. The cooperation between the two family-owned companies is further strengthened with three existing yards in Dubai and Fujairah that will continue their focus on repairs, conversions and dry-dockings. They will also undertake rig repairs and conversions for the oil and gas industry. With its 35 year history, Albwardy Marine Engineering is a well established name in the Gulf region. Damen Shipyards Group Damen Shipyards Group operates 40 ship- and repair yards, employing 8.000 people worldwide. Damen has delivered more than 5.000 vessels in more than 100 countries and delivers approx. 180 vessels annually to customers worldwide. Based on its unique, standardised ship-design concept Damen is able to guarantee consistent quality. Damen’s focus on standardisation, modular construction and keeping vessels in stock leads to short delivery times, low ‘total cost of ownership’, high resale value and reliable performance. Furthermore, Damen vessels are based on thorough R&D and proven technology. Damen offers a wide range of products, including: tugs, workboats, naval and patrol vessels, high speed craft, cargo vessels, dredgers, vessels for the offshore industry, ferries, pontoons and super yachts. For nearly all vessel types Damen offers a broad range of Services, such as maintenance, spare parts delivery, training and transfer of (shipbuilding) know-how. To complete, Damen offers a variety of marine components, especially nozzles, rudders, anchors, anchor chains and steel works. Damen Shiprepair & Conversion In addition to ship design and shipbuilding, Damen Shiprepair & Conversion offers a network of 16 repair & conversion yards worldwide, with dry docks ranging up to 420×80 metres. Conversion projects range from adapting vessels to today’s requirements and regulations to the complete conversion of large offshore structures. DS&C handles 1, 500 repair and maintenance jobs annually.
