ASRY's 1984 Revenues Up Nearly 20 Percent

An occupancy rate of 84 percent during 1984 helped Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard (ASRY) of Bahrain to boost revenues up by nearly 20 percent over 1983. The yard celebrated its tenth anniversary last year.

Chairman of ASRY Sheikh Daij Bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa said he was particularly encouraged by the success of the non-marine side of ASRY's business in the limited time the company has had to develop it. Its move toward diversification has resulted in a contract for the fabrication and erection of 14 storage tanks for the Ministry of Works, Power and Water, and steel fabrication of 854 tons for the Mina Abdulla refinery project in Kuwait.

During the year, the shipyard completed a major overhaul on Qatar General Petroleum Company's offshore mobile drilling rig Dana, worth almost $4 million; repair of a 62.5-ton propeller for the ULCC Safina A1 Arab (357,023 dwt) owned by Salen Tanker of Sweden; and repairs to Saipem of Milan's large pipe-laying barge Castoro Otto (190,984 tons).

A "remarkable" increase in main engine overhauls and in the amount of pipe work carried out helped mechanical work to continue at a high level.

Sheikh Al-Khalifa, in looking to the future, said he saw encouraging indications in the shipping industry, pointing out that the number of tankers in lay-up has fallen quite sharply and that charter rates should improve over the next few years. "We also anticipate high traffic in the Arabian Gulf of chemicals and iron ore and in due course the carriage of liquefied gas," he added.

The yard's links with Lisnave Shipyards of Portugal are to continue, although the Bahrain-based facility is gradually reducing the number of employees on secondment as its own technical expertise increases. For further literature containing full information on Arab Shipbuilding & Repair,