Maritime exploration and production of hydrocarbons requires a plethora of support vessels and work boats. William Stewart, vice president of Abu Dhabi Ship Building, says that demand for them is unlikely to let up anytime soon.
What are your primary activities?
Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) is a public joint stock company listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and is involved in four market sectors – naval shipbuilding, naval ship repairs, refits and upgrades, commercial shipbuilding and commercial ship repairs.
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Of that commercial work, oil and related offshore work dominates. ADSB does not design its own vessels but works closely with strategic partners around the world who are pedigree companies with proven designs.
What’s the scope of your oil industry related repair work?
ADSB carries out repairs on approx 200 commercial vessels per year and we have long term drydocking agreements with ESNAAD and IRSHAD which operate oil support vessels for ADNOC.
Our syncrolift is capable of lifting vessels up to 2000 tonnes and our travel lift vessels up to 500 tonnes, so can work with many vessel types.
How busy are you at the moment?
Like most places in the world at present, the shipbuilding market in the Middle East region is very busy and that looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.
Some of this work is based on the world demand for new tonnage, however in the smaller end of the market such as work boats and oil industry related support vessels the Middle East is creating its own rigorous market demands.
A good illustration of that regional boom is that despite the credit crunch, we have not had any of our clients default on their orders.
Do you see the offshore sector continuing its growth trajectory?
The demand for oil-related work boats in the Middle East will continue to grow as the fields become more sophisticated and as the vessel operators replace old tonnage.
In 2007 ADSB delivered a 40 metre fast aluminium crew boat to ESNAAD and sees a continuing requirement for more of this type of vessel in the Arabian Gulf region. ADSB does not build ocean going tankers, however. we have constructed and delivered a 55 metre coastal tanker for a local ship owner.
Can Abu Dhabi still offer a competitive environment?
Around 20% of our business is in building and repairing commercial vessels. In ship repairing the commercial market is growing every year. In the commercial shipbuilding market for the size of vessel that ADSB can build we find that rival yards from the Far East are very competitive on price.
There are many shipyards in there which have very low labour rates and a large pool of labour to draw on in their immediate location. They also operate shipyards with low overheads which also puts them in a very competitive position when compared to established yards in the Middle East and Europe.
How are your client relationships developing or changing?
In the ship repair market ADSB has build up very strong relationships with customers who now regularly dock their vessels with ADSB year on year, and in fact are now entering into long-term maintenance contracts to ensure that drydock space is available for them.
In the Shipbuilding market ADSB works hand in hand with its strategic partners and the customers to ensure that the product meets the customers requirements and that the customer comes back for repeat business.
How do the facilities and services at Mussafah suit your needs?
Our location is dictated by the fact that we have to have water access with a route to the Gulf. The channel is quite shallow which somewhat limits the scope of the work we can carry out here, but there are ongoing discussions about dredging to a depth of 10 – 12 metres which would make a big difference.
