Colombo Dockyard steams ahead

Winning many awards and accolades:

The year 2011 has been a significant year with Colombo Dockyard Limited bagging many key awards for its achievements in maintaining engineering excellence in recession times, playing a responsible role as an environmentally conscious corporate citizen ranked in Sri Lanka in its continuing odyssey of excellence.

The year 2011 has been a tough year for the ship repair sector with the global economic recession effects being felt across the entire shipping industry. As a result of this extended recession many of the ship owners are looking at postponing the scheduled repairs to the extreme limit or carrying out the dry docking repairs with minimal spending. Some of the global tanker owners/ operators have opted to lay-up their vessels during this period to minimise the losses, with the option of activating the vessels when the market conditions improve.

Colombo Dockyard being a medium sized facility has streamlined its services to meet the market requirements head on, giving highly competitive repair packages coupled with fast turn-around time and assured quality.

The number of vessels repaired up to November end 2011 totals to 147 with a cumulative dead weight 1,431,697. The number of vessels handled in 2011 will surpass the 2010 total of 149 with the December operations yet to be concluded.

In the shipbuilding sector this year the shipyard delivered three vessels starting with the delivery of 78 m Multipurpose Platform Supply Vessel Greatship Rashi meeting stringent requirements of the Petrobras and one 140 Ton Bollard Pull Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessel Executive Honour. A 100 Passenger Launch (Vada Tharakai II) to the Road Development Authority in Sri Lanka to be operated in the northern peninsula was successfully delivered. The fourth delivery for this year is scheduled to be the 'Executive Pride'. She is scheduled to be delivered before this year end.

Currently, three 78 m Multi Purpose Platform Supply Vessels with deliveries scheduled throughout 2012 for a Singaporean client is under construction. Recently, the Shipyard penned contracts for the construction of 4 more 78 m Multipurpose Platform Supply Vessels for another Singaporean client with deliveries extending to 2013 and 2014. In the Passenger Vessel sector, the company secured contracts for the construction of two 400 Passenger cum 250 T Cargo Vessel for the Government of India, to be delivered in the year 2013, wading off stiff competition from International shipbuilders.

In this turbulent recession times the shipyard has turned its focus on improving efficiency mainly by system upgrades and controls that will give returns on the longer term, while preparing the shipyard to take on the market when it returns back out of the recession times.