Dubai: Drydocks World, the ship-building and repair subsidiary of Dubai World, is seeing the market recovering as it bids for new projects and delivers two seismic vessels.
Khamis Juma Bu Amim, chairman of Drydocks and Maritime Dubai, said that it would start work on two projects, which include service vessels for European consortium customers and some Far Eastern customers, and deliver them during 2011.
"At this moment we are tendering for a quite a number of new builds. In the first and second quarter, the awarding process will start," Bu Amim said.
Drydocks, with four shipyards in Singapore and Indonesia, is doing a portfolio adjustment to "minimise exposure…especially the loss in certain yards," Bu Amim said.
"Generally we are trying to improve our ability in the Far East and of course, the capacity of our yards. We will continue with our investment no doubt," he said.
The ship builder yesterday delivered two seismic vessels to Norwegian geophysical operator Polarcus. Drydocks has been commissioned to build another three similar vessels for Polarcus. The project value for each vessel is about $110 million, officials said.
"We have noticed in the past 6-7 months, there is a true change in the market on the upside. That is a true sign that the market is picking up slowly and surely," Bu Amim said.
The company is also looking at building efficiencies into operations in Dubai. "We are trying to develop a robust organisation that has a very futuristic and very active role in the future," he said.
