Oman Dry Dock Company has received the government's green light to add a floating dry dock to its world class ship repair yard at Duqm on the Wusta coast.
According to a senior official of the state owned company, the facility, designed to cater to Panamax size vessels will provide ODC with the unique capability to handle oceangoing ships of all sizes from small crafts to ultra large ore carriers.
Mr Shaikh Khalil al Salmi deputy CEO of ODC said that "We have already received approval from the government to go ahead with the floating dry dock project. It is now in the design stage. We hope to start construction work before the end of next year."
Mr Al Salmi said that the 80,000 deadweight tonnes floating dry dock would be constructed at ODC's modern yard at Duqm. The facility will be built on site under the supervision of ODC and South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering which operates and manages the yard under 10 year contract with the government.
When operational, tentatively within three years from the commencement of construction, the floating dry dock will supplement ODC's current dry docking capabilities, which currently includes a pair of world scale graving docks of 600,000 DWT and 500,000 DWT capacities respectively. Additionally, the planned in house construction of the floating dock will provide ODC with the knowledge, experience and confidence to undertake shipbuilding jobs in the future.
Mr Al Salmi said that to date, ODC has handled a total of 105 ships of all sizes and types since it was soft launched in April 2011. We are proud not only of the number of vessels handled to date but also of the great variety as well from the largest VLCCs and LNG carriers to container, bulk and product carriers you name it we have done it! This has helped us to build our experience and position ourselves where we are today.