New branch making ASRY shipyard of choice in Saudi Arabia

Manama, Aug.23 (BNA): Since opening ASRY’s new Representative office in Al Khobar in Q1 of 2014, ASRY’s Saudi interests have steadily been on the rise throughout the past year. Having recognized the rise in Saudi rig business, particularly land rigs, the Kingdom’s market has become a strategic priority, with new developments, such as the newly formed department called the Navy, Defence & Industrial Projects Department, which already has a foothold in the Defence industry’s marine repair needs in Saudi Arabia. The shipyard’s presence throughout the Kingdom has also increased with participation in exhibitions and conferences, such as the Saudi Maritime Congress, which recently took place. Saudi Arabian Market Share The contribution of Saudi Arabian business to total sales for 2014 was approximately 40%, which is a significant amount, and reflects the importance of the geographical area to ASRY’s business. Compared to the same period the previous year, there has been a large rise. This is predominantly due to the offshore services division which is largely Saudi-based revenue. Of all of ASRY’s Saudi Arabian business in 2014, 66% of it came from the Offshore Services division. The major rig jobs that took place, and which are large contributors to the high percentage, are three of Saudi Aramco’s jack ups; ‘ARB 1’ which was in for leg guide repairs, while ‘ARB 2’ and ‘Arabiyah 3’ both underwent five year surveys. 2014 was a solid year for Offshore work, with major regional rigs choosing ASRY, including Nabors ‘Rig 655’ which underwent minor repairs, Shelf’s ‘High Island 7’, and Focus Energy’s ‘Jupiter 1’ completing Phase One of her maintenance plans. New Construction & Engineering Work in Saudi Arabia The newly-titled New Construction & Engineering division has been growing its portfolio of projects since it launched last year, and has had the opportunity to work on increasingly technical and specialized scopes, some for Saudi clients. In the past year ASRY has carried out conversions on Zamil 63, Zamil 64 and Zamil 502. All of them were converted from Anchor Handling Tug cum supply vessels to either ROV/Dive support vessels or Commissary supply vessels. The entire engineering requirements on these ships were carried out by ASRY Engineering. This included all Hull, Machinery, Electrical and Stability drawings and computations. ASRY engineering took responsibility for approval by classification societies ABS and BV for all the work done and thus provided a one shop solution. On the construction side, ASRY’s main clientele belongs to AOS. ASRY is working closely with Zamil Offshore to offer them shallow water Anchor handling vessels and with port terminal operators such as ATCO for Harbor Tugs and Red sea Gateway terminal for container barges. An engineering highlight was the completion of the pre installation engineering of a large crane for fitment on Rimthan 2, based on which ASRY has been awarded detailed engineering for installation of the crane. Strong future in Saudi Arabia The number of rigs in Saudi Arabia is increasing, and ASRY has already built a strong reputation amongst the major rig owners and operators. Therefore by creating a local presence, there will be greater opportunity to capitalize on the growing market potential. The backbone of marine repair optimism in Saudi is naturally Saudi Aramco, with which ASRY has been working for decades. They are showing no signs of decreasing their growth activities, and combined with a gradually recovering global market, the outlook for business growth in the Kingdom is good. Development of Jubail Industrial City and Expansion of Dammam port are going to increase the number of LPG’s, chemical tankers & container carriers trading in the region. ASRY is targeting to convert this increased traffic into potential business opportunities if those vessels are due for dry-docking. ASRY also works with other major marine players in the country such as Zamil, who are also showing signs of optimism. ASRY is investing in that confidence with the new office, greater sales attention, and diversification strategies such as the Navy, Defence & Industrial Projects department.