On a late October morning, there is not an empty berth at the quaysides at Dubai ship repair yard Drydocks World.

“There has not been one day since February 2021 when the quaysides and docks have not been at 100% utilisation,” chief executive Rado Antolovic said.

On the day of TradeWinds’ visit, there were 32 vessels undergoing maintenance, being put through eco retrofits or under conversion. The frenetic pace of work is due in part to busy shipbuilding yards in China, high oil prices and the race to decarbonise shipping.

Chinese shipbuilders have, in recent years, branched out into complex offshore conversion projects, along with general refit and repair work. They became major competitors of the large repair yards in Singapore and the Middle East, for whom such work was their bread and butter.

But Antolovic said that those yards in China are today focusing exclusively on newbuildings and have a huge order backlog, which has benefited repair yards in the Middle East.

In addition, strong oil prices have led to a revival of offshore oilfield development, which in turn has resulted in conversion contracts for new tankers-to-floating production storage and offloading units and LNG carrier-to-floating storage regasification units for Drydocks World.

Some vessels are currently undergoing conversion, other projects are at the design and procurement stage, and more contracts are under negotiation.

Older offshore assets from anchor-handlers to rigs have also been pulled out of long-term lay-up, requiring significant upgrades and repairs in order to return to work.

Drydocks World has completed repair and upgrading projects on 20 rigs this year that had lain dormant for the past decade and has 25 more in the pipeline for 2023.

Eco-refits on conventional ships have also boomed as owners rush to meet International Maritime Organization deadlines.

Antolovic said Drydocks World has been busy doing everything from applying environmentally friendly paint coatings to installing energy-saving technologies, scrubbers and water ballast treatment systems, replacing bulbous bows with more efficient designs, and converting conventional engines into LNG dual-fuel engines.

Drydocks World in Dubai has a full plate of eco-refit projects underway including replacing bulbous bows. Photo: Jonathan Boonzaier

The volume of general maintenance and repair work has also picked up significantly — something Antalovic attributes to shipowners having healthy bank balances due to strong earnings over the past two years.

In lean times, shipowners cut maintenance work to a bare minimum but now they are investing in their ships.

Drydocks World itself has been investing heavily in upgrades on all fronts to meet the increased demand. Quays are being extended and an underutilised land area at the south end of the yard is being repurposed for module fabrication and shipbuilding.

Hefty investments have been made in new technologies to improve efficiencies and its environmental impact.

Niche shipbuilding

Drydocks World has also been encouraging clients to sign up for long-term maintenance contracts, which Antolovic claims offer significant improvements in scheduling, yard time and costs.

Drydocks World is repurposing an underutilised area in the south corner of its yard in Dubai for shipbuilding and the fabrication of large offshore modules. Photo: Drydocks World

While Drydocks World in Dubai is best known as a ship repair and conversion specialist, it does also undertake specialist shipbuilding projects.

“Production shipbuilding is not us,” Antolovic said. “We would need to change completely every aspect of our shipyard, requiring a huge investment. Chinese shipyards are experts at this, and extremely competitive for many reasons.”

Niche specialist ships of up to 250 metres in length are Drydocks World’s focus. It recently completed an IMO Tier-III NOx compliance tugboat for P&O Reyser. Other projects include a large fish farm for a Norwegian client, and various specialised offshore oil and gas modules.

The yard’s shipbuilding and production facilities also fabricate the modules that are used for the FPSO and FSRU conversion projects it undertakes.

Antolovic expects Drydocks World to add more specialised newbuildings to its books in the future.

One potential contract is for small LNG vessels that can be positioned close to the coast, where the production of electricity takes place through LNG. These vessels could either be supplied with LNG from larger carriers or be connected to an energy source, enabling the gas to be purified before it is piped to the power plant.

“It is a new design that our design team is working on with the support of international designers,” Antolovic said.

He added that the project is “still in the pipeline” but is one that Drydocks World is fully capable of undertaking, given its extensive experience in repairing LNG carriers and FSRU conversions.

Busy days at Drydocks World in Dubai. An offshore support vessel and an LNG carrier at one of the shipyard’s dry docks. Photo: Jonathan Boonzaier