Drydocks World-Dubai is the largest ship repair facility in the Middle East. It is operated by Drydocks World, a subsidiary of DP World.
Services provided at the shipyard include ship repair, vessel conversion, newbuilding, and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO).
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Drydocks World-Dubai has been operating for more than 38 years. It completes more than 300 projects a year, on average, and handles 42 refurbishment projects simultaneously.
Yinson Production, part of Yinson Holdings, awarded a contract to the shipyard to modernise the Atlanta floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in May 2022.
The contractual scope includes conversion and life extension services, as well as refurbishment.
Shipbuilding at Drydocks World-Dubai
The Dubai shipyard began new shipbuilding activities in 1994. The first build was a 16,000t lifting capacity floating dock to be used for the yard’s own purposes. More than 70 newbuilding projects, including semi-submersible drilling rig hulls and X-bow design seismic vessels, have since been completed at the yard.
The newbuilding facility includes a hydro-lift facility of 120m x 60m, 2×2 transporters and an outfitting area. The outfitting area has a grand assembly area of 16,500m² and panel assembly area of 14,400m².
The facility has a steel production capacity of 2,500t per month.
Ship repair and conversion facilities
The ship repair facility can pre-fabricate steel blocks up to 1,750t and fabricate up to 8,200t. It has an open welding planes fabrication area of 9,933m² and workshop of 15,650m². The yard has separate pipe shops for ship repair and newbuilding.
The mechanical workshop in the facility handles work on diesel engines, turbines, turbo chargers, pumps, compressors, fans, cow machines, hydraulic cylinders, hydraulic motors, heat exchangers, valves, winches, windlass and cranes.
The modern cryogenic workshop at the mechanical shop is spread over an area of 320m². It is equipped with a Single Girder electric overhead travelling (EOT) crane with a lifting capacity of 5t as well as two jib cranes with 2t of lifting capacity.
The facility also includes an electrical workshop and hull treatment department. The hull treatment department has an annual capacity of more than 1.7 million m².
Drydocks World-Dubai also manages the ship-lifts facility at Dubai Maritime City. This facility is expected to cater to the repair needs of small to medium size vessel owners and broaden the repair portfolio of the yard. It has 42 dry berths of 100m x 25m at Dock 1 and 11 dry berths of 150m x 35m at Dock 2.
Features
Spanning 200ha, the shipyard features four dry docks, the largest of which can accommodate the largest ship in the world.
It has more than 3,700m of berthing space. Dock 1 measures 366m x 66m, Dock 2 measures 521m x 100m and Dock 3 measures 411m x 80m. The yard also features a floating dock with a capacity of 205m x 34m.
The shipyard has a 350m-wide entrance channel and repair berths of about 2,400m. It has a total fabrication capacity of 5,000t.
The yard is equipped with a 2,000t floating crane, which was constructed specifically for heavy lift operations, a 300t gantry crane, a 300t Kone crane, overhead cranes, mobile cranes and rail cranes.
The yard features modernised workshops, rolling machines, Chariot Enviro Robotics systems, and a blasting and painting shed.
The facility also has a 1,350m² pipe fabrication shop with a capacity of more than one million inches a year.
South yard
Drydocks World is building the South yard facility to serve clients in the oil and gas as well as renewable energy sectors. Announced in September 2021, the facility is expected to increase Drydocks World’s fabrication capacity.
Spanning 70,000m², the South yard will be dedicated to newbuilding projects. It will be equipped with state-of-the-art machinery and a new load-out facility for heavy structures.
Sustainability partnership
Drydocks World-Dubai signed a strategic agreement with Silverstream Technologies to advance maritime decarbonisation in the Middle East in August 2022.
The agreement will focus on retrofitting vessels entering the shipyard with the Silverstream® System air lubrication technology.
Staff facilities and security
Employees are provided with air-conditioned accommodation and round-the-clock security. Four food courts cater to workers from various nationalities. Recreational facilities, such as a swimming pool, tennis and basketball courts, gym, TV hall, library, and reading area, are all available for employee use.
The yard is in compliance with ISO 9001 and 2000 safety and environment systems. The health and safety departments at the yard include security guards, gas and safety inspectors, fire personnel, and emergency response teams.
The yard is compliant with the International Ship and Port facility Security (ISPS) code.
