DAMEN Shipyards Sharjah (DSS) FZE, a joint venture between Damen Shipyards Group and Albwardy Marine Engineering, has officially opened for business.

“DSS’ core activities will continue along the tried and trusted course of Damen new-builds and Albwardy’s conversions, dry-dockings and repairs,” a Damenstatement said.

Damen Shipyards Sharjah, located in the Sharjah Hamriyah Free Zone, has a spacious new yard, located on a huge 284,000 sq m site with direct and unrestricted access to the sea. The spokesman highlighted that the facility meets the highest standards of modern ship construction and repair.

The facility is equipped with a 120 x 26.5 m ship-lift, has capacity of 5,200 tonnes and is connected to eight dry-berths, each of which is 125 m 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 m of quay with a water depth up to 9 m.

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 10 ASD tugs.

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.

VERSATILE

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 approximately 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. Damen offers a variety of marine components, especially nozzles, rudders, anchors, anchor chains and steel works.