Oman Drydock Company (ODC), which owns and operates one of the region’s largest ship repair and maintenance yards at Duqm, is preparing to add an important capability to its expanding portfolio of services: shipbuilding.
The move marks an important step for the wholly government-owned company in achieving its longer-term objective of adding shipbuilding to its varied offerings. It also comes on the 10th anniversary of its launch in 2011 as a dry-docking maintenance and ship repair yard.
“Oman DryDock Company announces its readiness to fulfill new-build requests for small and medium vessels including fishing vessels and tugboats (up to 100 metres) for all private and governmental marine sectors,” said ODC – part of Asyad Group – in a tweet.
ODC Chief Executive Officer Said bin Hamoud al Maawali had told the Observer in an interview published last year that the yard plans to make the transition towards shipbuilding in gradual steps with the goal of becoming a full-fledged shipyard by 2023.
“Shipbuilding has always been part of our long-term plan. We will start on a modest scale with the construction of relatively simple ships, but after 2023, our plan is to target shipbuilding projects that are quite significant,” Al Maawali had stated.
In recent years, ODC has diversified its offerings to include, among other services, industrial and modular fabrication and conversions into Floating Production Storage & Offloading (FPSO) vessels and Floating Storage & Offloading (FSO) units. It has also added the fabrication and installation of scrubbers to its capabilities.
Earlier in March this year, parent organisation Asyad Group announced the integration of wholly stated owned Oman Shipping Company with Oman Drydock Company as part of a vision to provide global markets with end-to-end logistics solutions.
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