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Zamil, DCNS, set for new Saudi repair yard

Zamil, DCNS, set for new Saudi repair yard
A joint venture between Saudi’s Zamil Group and French military shipbuilder DCNS has been set up to build a new shipyard in Yanbu on the Red Sea.

The yard is intended for repair and maintenance of naval, offshore and merchant vessels of up to panamax size, but a primary focus will be the upgrade of Saudi Arabia’s western naval fleet. It is understood that a contract worth EUR700m for Zamil’s share of this work is in the final stages of negotiation.  

The new yard, covering an area of some 500,000 m sq, will be the largest ship repair facility in the Red Sea across which some 25,000 vessels sail each year. Naval work is likely to take up 20% of the new yard’s capacity but the balance will available for offshore and commercial repairs. Earlier this year, Zamil took over the lease at Jeddah Ship Repair Yard (JSRY) which had previously been operated by the Al Blagha group. Its two floating docks and other facilities there are currently undergoing a major upgrade.   

Located inside Jeddah Islamic Port, JSRY is well-placed to offer repair services to the 6,000-odd ships which now call there annually. But no conflict between the two facilities is likely, according to sources, partly because the new facility at Yanbu will focus on naval and offshore repairs, as well as merchant vessels, but partly also because there is a shortage of regional repair capacity.

Plans for the new yard come against a backdrop of rising shipyard capacity throughout the Middle East. In August, Saudi Aramco and Bahri, formerly the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia and now incorporating Saudi Aramco’s tanker subsidiary Vela, announced a deal with Sembcorp Marine's Sembawang Shipyard

to develop a “world-class” shipyard whilst Zamil is due to open its new shipyard in Dammam in November.