(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) Adding to its world-class ship repair and maintenance yard at the Port of Duqm, Oman Drydock Company (ODC) is planning to start construction of its proposed floating dry dock by the end of 2013, according to a senior official of the company.Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the first Shipping Agents Seminar organised by the Port of Duqm at the Crowne Plaza Muscat on Sunday, Sheikh Khalil bin Ahmed al Salmi, deputy CEO of ODC, said that the company has serviced and delivered as many as 105 ships so far in its dry dock at the Port of Duqm.ODC, which started soft operations at its two dry dock within the Port of Duqm in April 2011, launched full-fledged commercial operations in June this year.Salmi said that the floating dry dock, which will be a panamax-size dock, will be built and supervised by ODC and its Korean partner Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME).''We are at the design stage now for the floating dry dock and hope to start the construction sometime by end of next year. It will further built ODC's capacity in ship repairing and maintenance.''Once the construction starts, the floating dock yard will be completed within three years. The feasibility study has been done and there is an approval from the government to go ahead with it,'' he said.ODC facilities in Duqm provides scores of ship repair services for vessels of different sizes including very large crude carriers (VLCC), container carriers, oil and gas tankers, cruise ships, commercial vessels and equipment vessels.The upcoming floating dry dock will be an ideal facility for servicing small and medium-sized vessels and will help to keep larger berths of the existing dry dock free for bigger vessels.Salmi said that ODC's target is to reach a capacity of servicing as many as 200 ships annually.''We really did a great job to deliver over 100 vessels in last one and half years. We are not only proud about the numbers of ships, but we are proud of the variety of ships that we have serviced. We are positioning ourselves to reach the target of 200 ships a year sooner than later,'' added Salmi.
