Dubai: The excesses of the past decade would appear to be over for Drydocks World (DDW), Dubai’s leading shipyard group. While it had to cut back dramatically its global aspirations when Dubai’s economy hit the buffers six years ago, it has gradually been building back up, and climbing the technology ranks.
Khamis Juma Buamim, the chairman of the group, says DDW has a new strategy establishing its future global reach.
“We don’t believe that expansion through acquisition adds anything of real value, however we do believe that we can offer our extensive experience to partner with other companies to manage and operate their facilities for them in the region and globally,’ he tells Maritime CEO, adding: “This will automatically expand our footprint across the various geographic spheres which we have identified in our growth strategy.”
DDW has a long-term vision with a clear strategy till the year 2030 built around offshore oil, gas and energy.
Part of this plan includes building additional capacity at home and expanding in the UAE.
What is clear, among DDW top management, is that world energy demand is set to grow. This demand is projected to rise by 41% over the period between 2012 and 2035, Buamim says.
“Deepwater exploration and the increased requirements for specialized vessels – be it offshore exploration, production, accommodation rigs or offshore support vessels – has been our target for future business,” he says.
DDW has been at the forefront of some of the most eye-catching offshore orders of late, namely the Dolwin Beta for Germany, two modular capture units for the US, the Shell Prelude FLNG turret for Australia and the Solan Shetland underwater storage facilities for the UK. It is going for the largest drilling rig ever built for the North Sea, the CJ 80.
This concentration in the energy construction side now accounts for 50% of the company’s revenues, a far cry from DDW’s old reliance on ship repair.
“We are of the firm belief that this healthy growth will continue into the foreseeable future,” concludes the shipyard boss. [05/03/14]
