Albwardy Marine Engineering LLC

First and foremost

Established in 1978, Albwardy Marine Engineering LLC holds the notable position of being the first ship repair yard in Dubai (UAE). Since 2008, the company has operated as a joint venture partner of the Damen Shipping Group in Holland, which owns 36 shipyards in 15 countries around the world.

Over the years, Albwardy Marine Engineering has built up a comprehensive and professional package of ship repair, shipbuilding and marine engineering services. These are executed from its four fully equipped sites in Al Jadaf and Dubai Maritime City in Dubai, Fujairah and Salalah in Oman, which reflects its focus on these regions. The company provides itself on essentially providing one-stop-shop repairs, handling everything from dry-docking and floating repairs, and conversions to new build vessels. Likewise, Albwardy Marine Engineering has the in-house expertise in electrical and hydraulic services, diving services, machine and workshop services, and general yard activities.

“Besides this we operate a special services department where we represent a number of international marine brands in the Middle East. With more than 900 people from 21 different nationalities we are able to carry out all kind of repairs,” explains Marcel Van de Kreke, marketing manager.

Most recently, Albwardy Marine Engineering is pleased to announce that it has entered into a new agreement with Halcyon Offshore – a specialist manufacturer of marine equipment such as winches, capstans, and marine and offshore cranes. This authorises Albwardy Marine Engineering as the exclusive sales and service agent for Singaporean-based Halcyon Offshore in the UAE. In addition, the company has appointed three new global agents to its existing network of representatives, namely Martechnik Spares & Engineering in Singapore and Malaysia, Wilmot Marine Services in the UK, and Interglobe Marine Services in Cyprus.

Given the great costs operators face during vessel downtime, part of Albwardy Marine Engineering’s success is down to its ability to directly act on enquiries from clients, particularly those for last minute works. As such, the company prides itself on its fast service and personal approach to projects. The company’s merits in terms of delivering quality on time and in a cost-effective way were recognised last year when Albwardy Marine Engineering was selected by an international committee at the SHIPTEK awards as Best Repair Yard for the second year in a row.

As an example of these capabilities in action, Albwardy Marine Engineering has been successful with prominent contracts in floating repairs, dry-docking, conversion and new buildings. In particular, the company carried out the installation of a nitrogen generator on board the 51,000 tonne chemical tanker Al Amarat. This was a floating project carried out both alongside a repair berth and at the Fujairah anchorage. Due to the success of the project, Albwardy Marine Engineering has since been confirmed to carry out a further installation onboard sister vessel Al Matrah.

Having completed successful conversion projects in the past, Albwardy Marine Engineering was also recently awarded contracts to convert four flat-top barges into jetty pontoons. This consists of two 76-metre long barges for National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC) and two 100-metre long barges for Middle East Dredging Company (Medco). Another vessel converted by the company was the offshore utility vessel Island Thruster converted into an oceanographic survey vessel on behalf of EGS of Hong Kong. This entailed the fitting of a bow thruster, installation of additional accommodation, additional generators, air conditioning systems, A Frame and survey equipment at its yard in Al Jadaf.

As of January 2012, Albwardy Marine Engineering has built and delivered over 65 vessels of different sizes to various clients, and based upon the flow of orders through its partner Damen, is able to deliver more than one vessel a month going forward.

The requirements for offshore vessels are continuing to become more stringent in terms of the environment and safety, but on a general level Albwardy Marine Engineering sees the region remaining steady in terms of these activities. In response to this, Marcel concludes with how Albwardy Marine Engineering is retaining its current focus: “We will continue to grow in our three core areas of ship building, engineering and ship repairs, but still on a regional basis. Being located throughout the UAE and Oman means we can assist vessel and rig owners with a full scope of in-house services, even on a turn key basis, with a commitment to complete projects on time and with great efficiency.”

Albwardy Marine Engineering LLC
Services: Shipyard services