Malaysian shipyard adds new drydock for ships up to 400,000 dwt

MHB marked the commissioning of its newly built Dry Dock No. 3 at its MMHE West Yard in Pasir Gudang, Johor with the drydocking of container ship CSAV Toconao. Owned by Zodiac Maritime, CSAV Toconao will undergo repair and maintenance works in this new drydock. MHB has completed 25 drydockings for Zodiac Maritime dating back to 2001.

Commenting on the addition of Dry Dock No. 3, MHB managing director and chief executive Encik Pandai Othman said the additional dock space would keep MHB “a step ahead in competing with other players in the marine repair industry in this region. Despite 2021 expected to be a global recovery period from the Covid-19 pandemic, we are still optimistic this investment will allow us to bring in more clients and cater to more vessels in the coming years.”

Dry Dock No. 3 joins MHB’s existing two drydocks and one floating dock to conduct repair and refurbishment services on vessels and other marine and oil and gas facilities. It enhances MHB’s drydocking capacity to provide multiple comprehensive works on LNG carriers, floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) units, floating storage and offloading (FSO) units and oil rigs.

The drydock is 350 m long, 80 m wide and 14 m deep. With the capacity to cater for vessels up to 400,000 dwt, it can also dock smaller vessels concurrently when not servicing LNG carriers, FPSO or FSO units. It is fully equipped with supporting facilities such as cranes, workshops, special equipment, offices and substation docks.

Completed over a three-year period, the construction of Dry Dock No 3 involved more than 500 people with more than 2.7M man hours recorded upon completion of the dock.

“Since MHB’s incorporation, we had successfully completed more than 3,800 marine repair works including several life extension and upgrading solutions for various vessels owned and operated by local and international clients,” said Mr Othman. “With a comprehensive track record of more than 34 FPSO/FSO/FSU conversions, 200 LNG carrier drydockings – including 10 projects for major upgrading and life extension services – MHB is committed to delivering high quality, value-added and cost-efficient service to our clients.”