Business | Shipping
ADSB wins Bahrain landing craft deal
Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) said on Tuesday it has been awarded a contract to build four landing craft for the Bahrain Naval Forces.
- By Himendra Mohan Kumar, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:01 November 12, 2008
Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) said on Tuesday it has been awarded a contract to build four landing craft for the Bahrain Naval Forces.
"The size of the order is below $100 million (Dh367 million)," ADSB's chief executive officer William S. Saltzer told Gulf News by telephone, but declined to give specific details.
"Deliveries for all four landing craft will be completed within the next two years," said Saltzer.
The news, however, couldn't help prevent the slide of ADSB's shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) yesterday. ADSB's share price fell 7.20 per cent to Dh3.61, which in percentage terms, was steeper than the decline of ADX's general index.
Stiff competition
In a statement, ADSB said the multi-million dollar contract was won in the face of stiff competition from international shipyards. This is the second Bahraini order for ADSB, the only dedicated naval shipbuilding and repair facility in the Arabian Gulf, it added.
The new contract, awarded by the Kingdom of Bahrain Defence Force, is for the construction of two 42-metre steel landing craft and two 16-metre landing craft made of composite materials.
The work will be undertaken at ADSB's Mussafah shipyard. The steel vessels are designed for troops and vehicle or cargo transportation and for beach landings in Gulf coastal waters. The 16-metre Sea Keeper 715 will be built in ADSB's state-of-the-art composite workshop.
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