Offshore staff
HENDERSON, Australia -- Strategic Marine has doubled the capacity of its Singapore facility and has opened its new yard in Mexico.
Strategic Marine's shipyard at Matazlan, Mexico, was opened with a keel-laying ceremony for the first vessel to be built at the facility.
Strategic entered into a joint venture with Mazatlan-based Servicios Navales E Industriales (SENI) in late 2007 after winning an $11.89-million order to build two 52-m (170-ft) aluminium crew boats for Bluewater Marine, scheduled for delivery in the middle of 2009. Bluewater Marine will use the vessels to service its Pemex supply contract in the Gulf of Mexico.
Work on pre-fabricated modules for the first two crew boats is under way, and now that the keel is laid, the modules can be hoisted into place.
At its facility at Tuas in Singapore, the company has leased a 3,000-sq m (32,291-sq ft) open area and has erected a 1,200-sq m (12,916-sq ft) covered area, expected to be operational by August 2008. Work is under way to lay a concrete slab on the new site, with a temporary marquee-type shed, until a permanent shed is constructed in 2009.
The expanded yard is expected to employ an additional 80 welders, fabricators, and shipyard workers on top of its existing 120-person workforce.
The increased capacity will allow an early start on the six 40-m (131-ft) crew boats Strategic has announced it will build 'on spec'. Two of the aluminum utility vessels have been ordered by Samson Maritime in a $9.8 million contract, scheduled for delivery in May and July 2009.
07/23/2008
