Under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, ASRY celebrated its 35th anniversary during which the new 1.38 km Repair Quay Wall was officially inaugurated by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Deputy of His Majesty the King, Crown Prince at a ceremony held at the company’s headquarters in Hidd.
Chairman of ASRY, Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa, praised the commitment, hard work and concerted efforts of all those involved in successfully implementing ASRY’s $188m expansion programme.
He especially paid tributes to the wise leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa whose vision for a more competitive Bahrain has helped to inspire developments such as the new repair wall. He also expressed his sincere thanks and gratitude to His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Deputy of the King, Crown Prince and His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister for their continued support and direction in implementing various projects to rapidly develop the Kingdom’s economy and to enhance its maritime capabilities. The inauguration of the new Repair Quay Wall represents a significant milestone for Bahrain’s maritime sector and the ship repair and maintenance industry, which will further enhance regionally and internationally the Kingdom’s reputation as a major maritime centre and contribute significantly to realising the objectives of Bahrain Economic Vision 2030.
Since commencing operations in October 1977, ASRY has continued to expand its repair facilities which now include – in addition to the Repair Quay Wall – one 500,000dwt capacity graving dock, two floating docks capable of accommodating vessels up to 80,000dwt and 120,000dwt respectively, two of the largest slipways in operation in the region and 15 repair berths. All three dry docks and the two slipways are backed-up by a comprehensive array of workshops, which cater to a variety of vessels, large and small.
“The Kingdom’s strategic location and maritime capabilities have enabled Bahrain to become a maritime hub and a key industry player over the years. ASRY enjoys vast experience in providing a wide range of high-quality maritime associated services to the highest international standards, in addition to state-of-the art facilities and highly qualified staff,” Chris Potter, Chief Executive Officer of ASRY, said.
“This has turned ASRY into one of the world’s largest and most efficient ship repair and conversion yards that does not only support the local economy, but also stimulates the region’s fast growing maritime industry. We are confident today’s milestone and ASRY’s expansion will have profitable investment returns to the economy and the overall industry.”
Abbas Ali Al Naqi, the Secretary General of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) in a speech congratulated Bahrain on the new Quay Wall as it is a pioneering step emphasizing the Kingdom’s leading position as a maritime hub in the regional and international markets.
“Over the years, this yard has developed into a world-class one-stop-shop serving ship owners regionally and internationally and noted that this success was also as a result of the continued support and encouragement of the Arab shareholding countries, in addition to the host country the Kingdom of Bahrain,” Al Naqi said.
He also attributed the company’s current and future success to the strong support of the leadership of Bahrain, the shareholding countries and the efforts of the management and workers of ASRY and wished them continued success and prosperity for the future.
Also giving a speech at the event was Chris Hayman Chairman of Seatrade the International maritime publishing, conference and exhibition company, congratulated ASRY on their continuous efforts to upgrade its facilities and to keep pace with the demands of the marine and offshore sectors it has served for the past 35 years.
Hayman noted the importance ASRY represented to the maritime business in Bahrain and the Gulf region and commended the company’s commitment to the green agenda for which it was recognised with a Seatrade Award for Corporate Social Responsibility in 2010.
His Royal Highness the Deputy of His Majesty the King, Crown Prince visited the exhibition of exclusive photographic images showing the growth of ASRY over its 35 years of operations. Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa, Chairman of ASRY, briefed His Royal Highness and VIP guests on the selection of rare images taken of ASRY’s premises over the past 35 years.
ASRY has grown since its establishment in 1974 from repairing only Super Tankers to now being able to work on every conceivable type of commercial, seagoing vessel. Its specialist capabilities include chemical tankers, gas tankers, dredgers, container ships, bulk carriers and general cargo ships, tugs and offshore support vessels. More recently, the yard has diversified even further into the oil and gas markets for jack-up rig repairs as well as the naval repair sector with its latest development being the establishment of a Joint Venture Company (JVC) in the UK with Centrax, the British power generation packaging specialist to produce multi-application Power Barges – floating, electricity generating power stations.