The Gulf Set to Rival China's Ship Repair Capacity

“The Middle East is a world-class centre of excellence for ship repair with a number of well respected shipyards already offering a diverse range of services. We are seeing new joint ventures between the region and Asia in the dry dock sector, with the Gulf set to offer the largest ship repair capacity outside of China,” noted Chris Hayman, Chairman of Seatrade, organisers of Seatrade Middle East Maritime.

International and regional shipping operators, ports, financiers and maritime professionals will meet in Dubai at the forthcoming Seatrade Middle East Maritime (SMEM) summit and exhibition to discuss the opportunities and challenges that global fleet growth will present to the region as it steadily develops into a world-class centre of excellence for ship repair and refurbishment. 

The organizers inform that the three-day event which starts on 28 October 2014 has dedicated a panel session to ship repair, which has attracted high profile experts including Geoffrey Taylor, Managing Director, Topaz Marine Engineering, UAE and Lars Seistrop, Managing Director, Damen Shipyards Sharjah & Albwardy Marine Engineering, UAE, who will debate the issues surrounding ship repair and refurbishment.

According to 2013 data, Drewry Maritime Research expects global container port demand to grow by just over 5% per annum through to 2017, exceeding 800 million TEUs per year; and this expected growth is more than the entire 2012 throughput of North America, Europe and the Middle East combined.

This and other sector drivers, such as the expansion of offshore projects and the implementation of new technical regulations for the shipping industry will also be discussed, with the panel set to share details of a newly-researched, in-depth competition analysis, alongside the issue of how to introduce best practices to maintain a continual updated diversity of improved ship repair services.

Source: Seatrade Middle East Maritime