International and regional shipping operators, ports, financiers and maritime professionals will meet in Dubai at the forthcoming Seatrade Middle East Maritime (SMEM) summit and exhibition to discuss the opportunities and challenges that global fleet growth will present to the region as it steadily develops into a world-class centre of excellence for ship repair and refurbishment.
The three-day event which starts on 28 October 2014 has dedicated a panel session to ship repair, which has attracted high profile experts including Geoffrey Taylor, Managing Director, Topaz Marine Engineering, UAE and Lars Seistrop, Managing Director, Damen Shipyards Sharjah & Albwardy Marine Engineering, UAE, who will debate the issues surrounding ship repair and refurbishment.
“The Middle East is a world-class centre of excellence for ship repair with a number of well respected shipyards already offering a diverse range of services. We are seeing new joint ventures between the region and Asia in the dry dock sector, with the Gulf set to offer the largest ship repair capacity outside of China,” noted Chris Hayman, Chairman of Seatrade, organisers of Seatrade Middle East Maritime. According to Drewry Maritime Research’s Q1 2014 report ‘Ship Operating Costs Annual Review & Forecast’, ship operators remained under pressure to keep operating costs to a minimum in 2013 due to weak freight earnings, with restrictive repairs and maintenance regimes instigated in order to counter rises in expenditure. This was supported by last year’s weak steel prices, but with new regulations and an element of catch-up in repair due, Drewry expects repair and maintenance expenditure to rise by at least 2.5-3% per annum over the next two years.
"The thorny issue of maintaining fleets for operational readiness whilst maximising commercial capacity is a constant concern for both shipyards and vessel owners, but with increased capacity in the region, the Middle East is perfectly positioned as a key geographical access point for quality repair, maintenance and refitting services,” said Hayman. According to 2013 data, Drewry Maritime Research expects global container port demand to grow by just over 5% per annum through to 2017, exceeding 800 million TEUs per year; and this expected growth is more than the entire 2012 throughput of North America, Europe and the Middle East combined.
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