Due to be inaugurated on 23 November 2010, Qatar’s largest shipyard, Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine (N-KOM) will be commencing[ds_preview] operations soon.
Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine is a landmark partnership between Nakilat, the world’s largest LNG carrier owners and Keppel Offshore & Marine, a global leader in the offshore and marine industry.
The brand new shipyard covering an area of 43 hectares is located at the north-eastern tip of Qatar within the Ras Laffan Industrial City and close to the LNG terminals and the Ras Laffan Port. N-KOM has recently obtained accreditation for its Integrated Management System covering ISO 9001:2008 for Quality, OHSAS 18001:2007 for Occupational Health & Safety and ISO 14001:2004 for Environmental Management.
Even as development work on the new yard’s facilities nears its completion, N-KOM has successfully completed the construction of its own dock gates weighing a total of 2,700 tons for its two graving docks. Completed safely, on time and within budget, the two dock gates, at lengths of 68 m and 82.25 m respectively, have been installed and tested on its two graving docks. Work began in December 2009 and was completed in August 2010.
This is part of the yard’s first two phases of development of a repair and conversion facility comprising two very large crude carrier (VLCC) size graving docks (400 m x 80 m) and (360 m x 66 m). Accompanying the two dry docks will be two large finger piers providing six wet repair berths with a total length of 2,300 m and a minimum water depth of 11 m. This is supported by a number of well equipped workshops with extensive lay-down and fabrication areas alongside both graving docks.
When completed, the Nakilat-Keppel O&M shipyard will boast some of the most technologically advanced equipment for increased efficiency, quality and safety. An aspect of the yard’s design is its flexibility to undertake a wide and diverse range of activities and minimize any constraints.
The N-KOM yard is able to leverage Keppel Offshore & Marine’s experience, expertise and resources of its existing 20 other shipyards worldwide in providing offshore & marine solutions and support to N-KOM’s operations in Qatar. N-KOM will also be able to tap on Keppel’s global brand name and its global marketing network.
Besides the drydocking, repair and maintenance of Nakilat’s own fleet of 54 very large liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers currently in service, Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine will be focusing on meeting shipowners’ requirement in terms of carrying out general maintenance repairs and drydockings generated from the international market. N-KOM is targeting to service all types and sizes of commercial vessels. It will also be undertaking conversions of FPSOs, FSO and FSRUs as well as fabrication work for offshore projects. Once fully operational, Nakilat – Keppel O&M will be supported by Keppel Shipyard’s specialized LNG tanker repair teams from Singapore. There are currently some 700 personnel in N-KOM consisting of management, engineers, supervisors and skilled tradesmen from various countries such as Singapore, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar workers in the yard which will increase to around 5,000 workers when the yard is fully completed.
Nakilat – Keppel O&M will continue its effort to build up the yard’s expertise and management team by leveraging on Keppel’s pool of skilled manpower from its various global shipyards. These personnel are sent to Keppel’s Singapore yard for training to be better equipped in meeting the requirements of the Nakilat – Keppel O&M yard before they are mobilized to Qatar.
Earlier in March this year, Nakilat-Keppel O&M signed an MoU with the Qatari Navy for ship repair services at Nakilat’s new world-class ship repair and shipbuilding facilities at the Port of Ras Laffan. The agreement provides for dry-docking and repairs of Qatari Navy and other military auxiliary vessels in accordance with planned maintenance program requirements. It also provides for afloat repairs of Qatari Navy vessels, periodic maintenance and servicing of machineries outside of the dry-docking program as well as major upgrades and conversions of vessels.
