Page 41: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2013)

www.marinelink.com 41By all accounts, Bahrain-based ASRY (Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard) is managing to buck the trend of falling rev-enues and create an optimistic story for the Middle East ship repair industry. It is also resisting the regional trend of fall-ing revenues and increased losses with a 6% increase year-on-year in revenues as well as staying proÞ table, according to the yard. The secret to the yard?s success is actually no secret at all and has been reported previously in these pages. Ac- cording to Chris Potter, ASRY Chief Ex- ecutive, key to recent success has been a series of three key diversiÞ cations now coming to fruition ?Due to the fact that ship operators re-pair schedules and scopes are still being kept to a minimum, 2013 will continue to be challenging for any yard that relies solely on ship repair,? Potter said. The biggest challenge in the ship repair in-dustry in the Gulf is to expand its market share despite a persistent depression in the industry, while simultaneously re- sponding to more competition from new yards opened in the past two years. Di-versiÞ cation in the foreseeable future is going to be imperative if repair yards are going to stay competitive ? gone are the days when relying solely on ship repair was enough.? Striking Out Offshore The Þ rst major diversi Þ cation for ASRY was ASRY Offshore Services ? a division dedicated to rig repair, which accounted for approximately 44% of AS- RY?s revenues in 2012, and is directly re- sponsible for the yard?s unusually buoy- ant position. The second diversi Þ cation was ASRY Energy Division, launched in late 2011, which is responsible for the production of specialized barges that will form the basis of unique Float-ing Power Plants, designed by an ASRY joint venture, ASRY-Centrax. Two hulls for these barges have been completed and launched ? making ASRY the Þ rst and only Middle Eastern yard to diver- sify into the power generation Þ eld. Fi- nally, the third diversi Þ cation was ASRY Consulting Services (ACS), launched in 2012, which is a team of dedicated en-gineers, naval architects and senior yard managers that draw on ASRY?s experi- ence to consult on a range of yard-based subjects, including yard operations and management, installation of ballast wa-ter monitoring systems and low-sulphur emission systems. ACS is the fastest growing division in ASRY with more than 18 full-time employees, and a full new business pipeline.By branching out into these new spe-cializations, and multiplying revenue streams, this year ASRY is not only defying the market, but also graduating from a ship-centric repair yard, to a full-service marine optimization complex.Simultaneously, the yard has contin- ued to invest, with an ambitious $188m expansion project now entering its Þ nal phase with the completion of a repair quay wall that brings the yard?s repair berth space up to 4km. Along with four state-of-the-art tugs being built in-yard, an offshore layout area, new sewage treatment plant, new desalination plant, and further infrastructure improvements, the company has had the courage to ag-gressively invest in a weak market and has been rewarded with a market leading position. ASRY: Bucking the Slowdown Trend MR #8 (34-41).indd 41MR #8 (34-41).indd 418/1/2013 9:41:33 AM8/1/2013 9:41:33 AM