World’s largest floating drydock begins operation

The world’s largest floating drydock, named Emei, made by China Shipping Group’s subsidiary China Shipping Industry, has been put into service in China’s eastern city of Yangzhou.

The US$84.8 million drydock is made of steel structure with a steel weight of over 40,000 tonnes and a length of 410 metres. The building of the drydock began in August 2007. It will function as a main ancillary facility for ship maintenance for the Shanghai International Shipping Centre.

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EXMAR forms floating LNG alliance

Belgium: EXMAR has formed an alliance with U.S.-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer Excelerate Energy and engineering, consulting and construction company Black & Veatch to advance its efforts in developing floating liquefaction solutions.

“The alliance of a proven liquefaction technology provider, an experienced LNG importer and marketer and EXMAR’s proven track record of pursuing technologically challenging projects in the LNG business is in my view a unique selling proposition to field owners,” said Nicolas Saverys, chief executive officer of EXMAR NV. “This partnership forms a solid basis for the successful development of the first floating liquefaction, storage and offloading solution in the world. “The alliance has the expertise to develop a cost-effective source-to-market solution that provides the same reliability, efficiency and flexibility that Excelerate and EXMAR have pioneered in floating regasification and LNG ship-to-ship transfer, EXMAR said in a statement. The alliance is currently advancing its design efforts and working to create a solution that capitalizes on the expertise gained from industry-leading efforts of the combined team in floating regasification, shipping, liquefaction, gas processing, and downstream marketing.

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DP World takes over container handling operations in Yemen port

Global marine terminal operator DP World has officially taken over container handling operations at the port of Aden, completing the deal announced in July.

This takes DP World’s global network to 46 marine terminals in 26 countries. In a joint venture partnership with the Yemen Gulf of Aden Port Corporation, which also includes prominent Saudi Arabian company House of Invention International, DP World will operate and further develop container handling facilities in the port of Aden. Shaikh Abdullah Bugshan of House of Invention International is Chairman of the joint venture company. The agreement includes the lease of both Aden Container Terminal and has nearby Ma’alla Container Terminal, and a commitment by the joint venture to invest around $220 million in further developing the port. This includes building a new 400-metre berth extension to Aden Container Terminal within five years.   Capacity at Aden port is currently around 700,000 TEU (twenty foot equivalent container units) and is expected to grow to around 1.5 million TEU by 2012.

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