NEWS
Repair yards Damen takes over
Sobrena Damen Shipyards is the new operator of French shiprepair yard Sobrena. Te yard, which will be renamed Damen Shiprepair Brest, will continue to provide shiprepair and conversion services using its three drydocks, the largest of which is 420m long and 80m wide. René Berkvens, Damen Shipyards’ chief executive
commented: “Sobrena is of great value to Damen for many reasons, in particular the expertise of its employees and its modern facilities. Damen is an established player in shiprepair and we welcome the additional experience of Sobrena’s personnel, especially when it comes to LNG carriers.” As well as LNG carriers, where it has been one of the market leaders in recent years, the newly rebranded Sobrena is expected to target ferries, cruise vessels, offshore vessels and FPSOs. Damen Shipyards is following a long-term strategy of expanding its repair services and now operates a total of seven repair yards along the North Sea coast. With the acquisition of Sobrena the Dutch company has a total of 25 drydocks available for its customers. Although the Brest yard only reopened in early April, Damen says it is already getting requests for repair jobs. Te first repair order for the rebranded yard was placed by Bourbon Offshore, whose anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) Alcyon docked in April for its 30 year special survey.
While a minority of the lenders have still to indicate their backing for the plans, the group says it is confident the absence of support from this minority will have no impact on the process of restructuring to place the business on a secure long-term financial footing.
Drydock World Dubai has secured agreement for a financial restructuring.
However, to ensure the restructuring of the
group’s estimated US$2.2 billion debt over five years goes ahead without any threat from the minority of debtors which have still to agree, the company has filed for protection under Dubai’s decree 57. Te Government of Dubai passed Decree No. 57 in 2009 to allow groups such as DWD, a Dubai World Group subsidiary, to implement restructuring where proposals have the support of a significant majority of lenders, but where there is an absence of the 100% buy-in needed to implement its plans successfully. DWD stresses that Decree 57 filing has no impact on the on-going operations of the yard, its clients, suppliers or employees. DWD’s operations exceeded budget in 2011,
Damen Shiprepair Brest, formerly Sobrena, is a specialist in LNG carrier repairs.
Yards Drydocks World agrees
restructuring Debt-laden Drydocks World Dubai (DWD) has reached agreement with a majority of the group’s syndicated lenders, giving it the necessary level of support to implement its restructuring proposals.
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and the actual unaudited EBITDA for the year to December 2011 was 65% above expectations, the company states. In addition, strong growth has been witnessed by the group over recent months and DWD has won contracts totalling US$255 million since the turn of the year. Te company claims this success puts it in a strong position to achieve its 2012 business plan. DWD’s plans have recently received a boost with
the signing of a strategic agreement with the Italian company Saipem, which commits both parties to a close working relationship in the FPSO and FSO conversion, repair and life-extension sectors. A ‘steering committee’ with members from both DWD and Saipem will be set up to manage the joint working relationship, which will run for a minimum of two years. In another positive piece of news, a 25 year lease agreement has been signed with Dubai Shipbuilding,
Shiprepair and Conversion Technology 2nd Quarter 2012
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