Feature 2 | AFRICA Dormac completes biggest ever project
Te drydocking of a Chevron LPG FSO was a landmark for the South African repair specialist.
undertaken to date this February, with the completion of the drydocking of the LPG FSO, Escrarvos, for Chevron. Te work was split between Dormac’s Cape Town and Durban facilities and included the fitting of a 150tonne generator and the installation of the associated cabling onboard. Dormac’s scope of work further involved overhauling the cryogenic valves, sea valves, electric motors, fans and pumps. Dormac’s blasting and painting division completed a total of approximately 15,000m2 in the hull and deck areas and the machine shop assisted with the overhauling and fitting of the Sofec swivels that are attached to the turret onboard. According to the company: “The initial
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concept of having a mobile squad has been implemented to offer a unique service to all existing and potential clients within the shipping industry throughout all the major ports in South Africa and Walvis Bay. With this concept having successfully proved itself with the Escravos project, a long term strategy will be adopted to assist other vessel owners and managers with future projects of this nature.”
ormac, one of South Africa’s biggest shiprepair companies, finished the biggest project it has
When Dormac purchased Umkhumbi
Marine in 2005, the intention was to gain a foothold in the ship repair market in Cape Town and to add to the service offered by the company in other ports around the country. Tis strategy has proved successful and, as a result, the original workshops have become too small to carry out larger projects. During 2009 Dormac reached the conclusion that, in order to take full advantage of the opportunities that exist in the offshore oil and gas industry in particular, there was a need to acquire larger premises. In the search, specific attention was paid to under hook heights and liſting capacities to cater for specialised propulsion systems used in the offshore industry, while there was also a need for a large lay down area for fabrication work. According to Dormac an existing facility meeting these criteria was nowhere to be found and consequently the only way forward was to find a vacant piece of ground and develop it to meet the specific needs of the company. A suitable area was found close to Cape Town harbour and construction of the new facility is now well underway, with occupation planned for May 2010. Te new workshop boasts a covered area of around 1800m2
and will be equipped with two
25tonnes gantry cranes purchased from Demag. Tere will also be a tandem liſt with a capacity of 50 tonnes. Dormac has a network of facilities in
Durban, Cape Town, Walvis Bay, Richards Bay and Saldana Bay and all have been busy with a variety of projects over the past few months. Notable contracts have included the drydocking of the container vessel Wehr Blankanese, which included extensive hatchcover repairs in Durban, while Saldana Bay had a surge of work in the last quarter of 2009, when it attended to 14 vessels, with a varied scope of work including crane repairs, motor rewinds, steel and main engine repairs. Like all repair companies in South Africa,
Dormac primarily uses the graving and floating dock facilities owned by the national ports authority Transnet, although there are longer term plans to build a private drydock at Dormac’s Durban facility in the future. Existing facilities in Durban include the 352m long Transnet graving dock, which is divided into two compartments, and three floating docks - one of which is operated by Transnet. Te others are the Eldock facililty operated by Elgin Brown & Hamer and the smaller 50m dock acquired by South African Shipyards last year. SRCT
Carena enjoys period of growth
Te Carena yard in the Ivory Coast is benefitting from close links with the West African offshore and fisheries sectors.
it achieved the third best result in its 55-year history in 2009. “Te year 2010 will probably be an excellent one,” says managing director, Michel Plucinski. “A number of our competitors have crumbled while our activities are focussed on the offshore world.” With investment in the offshore oil sector
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now recovering, and given the discovery of oil reserves in Ghana and Sierra Leone, Carena feels its location is ideal to support offshore
espite the global economic slowdown, Carena Ship Repair in the Ivory Coast reports that
vessels operating in the region. Te yard also services fishing vessels and in particular tuna ships now based in Abidjan, many of which have switched operations from the east coast of Africa, due to the threat of piracy. To take advantage of these trends, Carena
is investing around US$15 million in a new floating dock, which it has purchased from Australia, which will operate alongside its existing dock. The dock, which is due to arrive by mid-2010, will allow Carena to handle vessels to to 200m in length, and with a weight of 20,000tonnes.
According to Mr Plucinski MD says: “Tis
will double our capacity and we will be able to meet demand from the new generation of offshore vessels which are larger and which will play an increasingly important role in the region.” Furthermore, Carena aims to diversify, to service container vessels and tankers. In addition, notes Mr Plucinski: “Te city
of Abidjan will soon have a second refinery and a refinery always attracts ships. For us this is auspicious because the ships will stop here when they require maintenance.” SRCT
Shiprepair and Conversion Technology 2nd Quarter 2010
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