The oil industry is one of the primary motivators in current boat building and the Middle East is one of the primary sources of oil. To reflect the central importance of this region Grandweld Shipyard in Dubai, United Arab Emirates is gaining an ever-larger reputation in the construction of vessels to meet the oil industry requirements. Of particular note are their Cummins-powered aluminum crew boats. In 204 and 2005 Arabian Gulf Mechanical & Contracting took deliver from Grandweld of a series of five 30.5-meter
crewboats each powered by a pair of Cummins KTA38 M2 engines. In the same time period Inchcape Shippping took delivery of a 33.5-meter crew boat powered by three Cummins KTA38 M2 engines.
Most recently Grandweld has delivered two aluminum 40.1-meter (134.5-foot) crew boats, the Express56 and 57 to Abeer Marine Services. As were the Inchcape vessels, these vessels are also powered by three KTA38 M2 engines each generating 1350 hp at 1950 RPM turning five-blade propellers through Twin Disc MGX6690 S gears boxes. The boats are achieving speeds in the 24-knot range. The new 251-ton displacement vessels’ net weight is 123 tons. Their 7.28-meter (23.9-foot) beam allows it to carry up to 128 tons of cargo. A relatively shallow 1.74-meter (5.74-foot) draft is maintained with the aide of a shallow recess along the aft keel line for the center propeller.
Auxiliary power includes a Cummins 6CT8.3 for bow thruster power and two Cummins 6B-CP99D (M) powered 99 kw generator. The 4050 hp vessels are registered in Panama and will be working in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf under charter to a Saudi company.
Established in 1984, Grandweld, a part of the GMMOS Group of companies, is located in the Dubai Ship Docking Yard at Al Jadaf that has a 5000-MT Synchrolift with a 100-meter length capacity.