Feature 1 | MEDITERRANEAN AND BLACK SEA Quality offshore business for Gibdock
Gibraltar’s shipyard has recently received a notable offshore vessel visitor, underlining its growing credentials in this market sector.
T
he offshore accommodation vessel - or floatel - Edda Fides docked for the first time at Gibdock on 2 April
this year, leaving on 10 April. Built by the HJ Barreras shipyard in Vigo and delivered in 2011, Edda Fides was in for a relatively small package of works, including a thruster seal replacement, but the significance of owner Ostensjo Rederi choosing Gibdock should not be underestimated. As Richard Beards, Gibdock’s commercial
director, observes: “Tis is a high quality, top end vessel that has chosen to come to a high quality yard. Te owner could have opted for a number of other yards in the area for this work, but the skill sets and experience we have here persuaded them that we were the right location.” Te 130m long, 7500dwt Edda Fides,
which is being marketed by Edda Accommodation, a division of the Ostensjo group, has accommodation for 600 persons onboard and features some ground-breaking technology intended to revolutionise the offshore accommodation sector. Tis includes a DP3 positioning system combined with Voith Schneider propellers and a heave compensated gangway. Another notable offshore project, the
semi-submersible rig Etesco Millennium, was in the yard in April pending future deployment. Managing director, Joe Corvelli says: “This has been a hugely important landmark for us. Etesco Millennium is the first rig project to come to Gibraltar since 1998 and as such demonstrates to the world that we can successfully handle work of this type.” Over the past year Gibdock has continued
to consolidate its reputation as one of the most capable yards in the region when it comes to handling complex offshore vessel types. Te yard has worked on a succession of offshore vessels of many different designs, including contracts for repeat customers like Solstad of Norway as well as new clients such as Boa Offshore. Work for regional passenger ship operators continues to be significant for
24 The offshore floatel Edda Fides at Gibdock.
Gibdock, with the usual pre-season refits to both conventional and fast ferries taking place in the first quarter of the year. Te yard has also seen an upturn in containership work in the first three months of 2012, when it carried out work on two container vessels, and received firm contracts for two more which are due to dock in the near future. By comparison the yard handled five box ships in the whole of 2011.
“The advantage we have for container lines is quite simple - location, location, location!”
Te work carried out for container vessels
this year has included the removal of hatch covers for general repairs, seal replacements, the repair and/or replacement of cell guides,
deck crane overhauls and general steel repair work. Container ship owners have also taken advantage of the dockings to carry out west grit blasting of the hulls and external surfaces and painting. Beards adds: “The advantage we for
have container lines is quite
simple - location, location, location! The Hanjin and Maersk terminals are close by in Algeciras, which is one of the Mediterranean’s busiest container ports, while the fast growing Tanger Med Terminal is just across the straits. Container vessels using these ports can call at Gibdock with practically zero deviation, allowing them to remain on their scheduled runs without costly diversions.” Business from containership owners
and operators is likely to remain fairly buoyant for the rest of the year, if the level of enquiries being received by Gibdock is a reliable guide. In particular there has been a notable rise in interest from the German market, the company
reports.SRCT
Shiprepair and Conversion Technology 2nd Quarter 2012
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