Page 100: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 1998)

SHIPYARD PROFILE

From Dhows Servicing To Supply Ship Lengthening

Dubai Ship Docking Yard Expands To Compete

The Dubai Ship Docking Yard, otherwise known as A1 Jadaf Ship

Docking Yard, has made its name in ship repair and maintenance in the Arabian Gulf region for the past 20 years.

Inaugurated in September 1978 by the late Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh

Rashid Bin Saeed A1 Maktoum, the shipyard has grown from a simple repair facility that primarily ser- vices dhows (traditional Arab wooden ships) and fishing vessels in the Arabian Gulf, into a diversi- fied complex that houses some 270 firms involved in the ship repair and maintenance business. A1

Jadaf now services ships from as far away as the Far East. The rapid progress in this oil producing region has contributed much to A1

Jadaf's growth. "The past 20 years have been very progressive for A1 Jadaf in terms of the number of vessels we are servicing, and in terms of the improvements we have made in the yard to cope with the develop- ment," said Derek B. Petrie, A1

Jadaf deputy chief executive. A1

Jadaf was mainly intended by the

Dubai government to cater to small and mid-sized vessels.

Hence, the yard is located inland and upstream in the lagoon portion of the Dubai Creek. The Dubai

Creek traverses two of the seven emirates under the United Arab

Emirates (UAE) federation. With present developments, A1 Jadaf can dock all manner of vessels — from domestic leisure yachts to utility and supply boats, to oil field related vessels and dredgers.

A board of directors, headed by

Obaid Ghanim A1 Mutaiwie, oversees the government-owned facility. What sets A1 Jadaf apart from other similar ship repair facilities in the region, however, is that it only provides the facilities to dock and undock the vessels — the actual repair work is not done by personnel directly under A1

Jadaf's employ, but by several con- tractors that operate under license with the ship yard. "At present we have more than 20 accredited con- tractors offering ship repair ser- vices. Owners who want to have their ships serviced can freely choose from any of these contrac- tors," Petrie said, adding that this arrangement also frees A1 Jadaf from problems such as labor strikes.

He also explained that this set up results in a healthy competition with the ship owners getting the benefit since each contractor would try to outbid others with better ser- vice offers. While other shipyards in the area either provide slipways or drydocks to dock and undock the vessels, A1 Jadaf boasts of two

Pearlson Syncrolift Systems. "The synchrolift system is better in the sense that it is more versa- tile than a slipway or a drydock," notes Petrie, a veteran in the ship yard business. The complex is split into two yards, one that handles smaller craft and the other for accommodating medium-sized ves- sels. Lift No. 1, which primarily services vessels such as dhows, pleasure craft and fishing vessels, lies on a platform 40 meters long and 12 meters wide. This small syncrolift can lift vessels with load concentrations of up to 11.8 tons/m or a nominal lifting capacity of 345 tons using its eight winches. Up to 42 vessels of the maximum size that can be lifted by this platform, can be accommodated by Lift No. l's yard complex. Lift No. 2, on the other hand, has twenty hoists that have a maximum load carrying capacity of 36 tons/m or a nominal lifting capacity of 2,530 tons. It has a 100 x 24 m platform. Its yard, Yard No. 2, can accommodate as many as 12 steel-hulled, medi- um-sized vessels double stacked in its six berths. Four of the berths are 150 m, while two are 120 m.

The large lift has been designed to handle most craft that are capa- ble of passing through the open- ings of the two bridges on the

Creek, (a limitation of 23.17 m wide): these include medium-sized ships like offshore supply vessels, tugs, barges, and cargo ships. UAE residents, which enjoy one of the

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