AD Ports Group and Premier Marine Engineering Services LLC (Premier Marine), a UAE-based shipyard company specialising in ship building and repair services to marine and offshore industries, recently announced the formation of a new joint venture, SAFEEN Drydocks. The joint venture is structured as a 51% ownership by AD Ports Group and 49% by Premier Marine. The new enterprise will offer a broad range of vital services including drydocking, afloat repairs, ship building and refurbishment.

The hub of SAFEEN Drydocks’ operations will be located at Khalifa Port and encompass a 45,000 sq mtr shipyard and repair facility, 350 mtr quay wall for vessel afloat repair, and a floating dry dock for vessel maintenance and refurbishment.

The floating dry dock is expected to commence operations in July of 2023, while the shipyard has already begun work with construction of two barges for a UAE-based client. Once fully up and running, the hub will be operated by SAFEEN Drydocks and be fully equipped to accommodate a range of vessel types including tankers, bulk vessels, container ships, offshore vessels and jack-ups.

Through the new joint venture, AD Ports Group will leverage its reputation and experience as one of the world’s premier facilitators of maritime logistics, industry and trade, and contribute quay space at Khalifa Port for the development and operations of the new services hub.

Premier Marine will, in turn, contribute its technical knowledge and experience in helping customers build, repair and maintain vessels and other maritime assets in an environmentally sustainable manner. Together, the two entities will serve the needs of not only SAFEEN Group’s maritime fleet, but also of broader regional and international client base spanning the shipping and offshore maritime sectors.

Captain Ammar Mubarak Al Shaiba, Acting CEO Maritime Cluster and SAFEEN Group, AD Ports Group, said: “The establishment of SAFEEN Drydocks is a milestone development for SAFEEN Group as it significantly broadens our scope of services and ability to serve the regional maritime industry. We look forward to working closely with our partners at Premier Marine in bringing together our global reach and their strong multi-decade track record in developing what we envision will be a regional and global hub and centre of excellence for maritime ship building, repair and maintenance.”

Hemant Tandon, Managing Director of Premier Marine Engineering Services, said: “We are privileged and honoured to collaborate with AD Ports Group during this exciting period to establish a customer-centric marine hub at Khalifa Port. This joint venture marks a new beginning for us, and through our partnership, our teams of highly skilled experts, coupled with the formidable expertise provided by the Group, we aim to achieve great success within the shipbuilding industry.”