New fleet maintenance contract a boon for embattled ASRY
Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard Company (ASRY) has signed an agreement to maintain the Arab Maritime Petroleum Transport Company (AMPTC) fleet of tankers.
Headquartered in Kuwait, APMTC was established in 1972 by members of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), and operates a fleet of 12 product carriers and two LPG carriers.
Engineer Adel Aljasem, chairman of AMPTC, called the agreement “a fraternal example of Arab companies working together under a shared vision.”
Established in 1977, Bahrain’s ASRY is one of the largest repair facilities in the Middle East. A ‘nationalisation’ drive at ASRY continues apace, involving efforts to increase the proportion of local Bahrain nationals working at the yard. The ‘nationalisation’ rate of local workers rose from 25.3% in 2020 to 33.3% in 2023, or 672, according to a Parliamentary report released last week.
The yard has been struggling as a result of the Red Sea crisis, which has denied access for many of the vessels the yard would be working on. In a sign of the times in July last year, the yard formed a partnership with A.P. Møller-Maersk to establish new ship recycling capabilities, which would produce recycled steel to assist the decarbonisation in construction and other industries.