Strategic Marine - Floating Dry Dock

Strategic Marine has successfully launched the base of the floating dry dock it has on order from the Australian Marine Complex (AMC) on schedule from its Vietnamese shipyard.

The dock’s 4,400 tonne base was launched flawlessly from the company’s facility at Dong Xuyen Industrial Zone at Ba-Riang Vung Tau at 4pm on Tuesday, November 18.

The 99m long and 53m wide base was then lifted aboard a Dockside submersible vessel “The Teal” for its eight-day journey to the AMC at Henderson in Western Australia.

The method employed for the launch used dozens of long sausage-shaped fenders which were inflated to their full diameter of 1.5m to lift the base of the dock off the 1m pedestal it was resting on.

The dock, which was tethered firmly to prevent it moving, was then rolled slowly down a ramp into the ocean.

Five tugs were on hand to tow the dock base out to “The Teal” which was moored about six miles away through a narrow outlet.

The submersible is expected to drop anchor off the Western Australian coastline before it gradually submerges, allowing the base pontoon to float off before being  towed into position at the Common User Facility (CUP) at Henderson.

Strategic Marine then has two months to fit the dock’s 840 tonne superstructure and four months to ensure all of the machinery works before the completed dock is commissioned and handed over in July.

(www.strategicmarine.com)