GLOBALIZATION
Report: Hyundai to Enter Competition for Morocco Shipyard
Reports from the Korean media indicate the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, the holding company for the group’s shipbuilding operations, is exploring participating in the upcoming bidding for the rights to operate Casablanca’s new shipyard. It is part of an international strategy by the group, which has already seen it expand into Vietnam and the Philippines, and recent agreements for cooperation in India, the United States, and Peru.
Morocco’s National Port Agency last year announced the competition for the rights to develop and operate a new shipyard at North Africa’s busy port. It cited the strategic location of Casablanca as well as the strong demand, especially in the ship repair sector. It notes the lack of available space in key locations, including the Canary Islands.
The initial goal of the facility was to have a capacity to dry dock 22 vessels per year, as well as having cranes to handle 400 to 470 vessels a year at dockside. The lifting platforms would be able to handle six medium-sized boats up to approximately 5,000 tones. It estimated an investment of as much as $92 million would be required, with the government agency reporting it had budgeted $76 million for the project.
The National Ports Agency decided that the best course of action would be to launch an international competition for companies with at least 10 years of experience operating facilities similar to the one planned in Casablanca. The tender proposal outlines a facility that will encompass 21 hectares. It will include a dry dock with dimensions of 244 x 40 meters (800 x 131 feet), a lifting platform with 9,000 tonnes of capacity, a 200-foot dock, nearly 2,700 feet of fitting out berths, and a strap gantry. The concession is for 30 years and calls for the development, equipping, operating, and maintaining the new shipyard.
Business Korea reports HD Hyundai Industries is considering placing a bid, with reports indicating other expected bidders will include France’s Naval Group and Spain’s Navantia. The shipyard will be the largest in Africa.
In addition, Morocco is reported to be promoting the growth of its domestic fleet tied to the shipyard. It is reported to be seeking 100 new merchant vessels by 2040 to promote foreign trade.
Hyundai has been reported to be positioning itself as a potential contender for Morocco’s planned naval shipbuilder efforts, and now it is looking to also leverage the opportunities in commercial shipping. According to the reports, Hyundai currently has a backlog of nearly three years with over 450 vessels. It has also been looking for ways to become more cost-competitive.
The strategy, according to Business Korea, is to expand the operation globally. This could be the company’s entry into the European market, and initially, they are reported to be looking for concession agreements to lower the total investment costs. HD Hyundai recently signed an agreement with India’s Cochin Shipyard, and the report says they are now exploring shipbuilding in India. It also recently announced a new partnership with the U.S.’s Edison Chouest, and in Peru, it is in a partnership to build new submarines.
It will not be the first time a South Korean company has sought to build a global shipbuilding company. STX launched a rapid growth effort and by the early 2000s was buying shipyards. It acquired the bankrupt Daedong Shipbuilding Company in 2001 and then took control of Akers, including in Finland, where it launched STX Europe. In France, it invested in Chantiers de l’Atlantique, which became STX France. It was hit hard by the downturn in shipbuilding and the financial crisis later in the decade, and by 2013 was seeking financial protection in the courts. The European yards were sold, and the yard in Korea was eventually relaunched as K Shipbuilding, which itself is rumored to be for sale after a financial turnaround in the past few years.
Boskalis Moves Turkey's Biggest Floating Drydock to NASSCO
When the Jones Act shipbuilder General Dynamics NASSCO ordered a new floating drydock from a shipbuilder in Turkey, it needed a way to move it across an ocean and around a continent. Luckily, there was an even larger floating drydock available to carry it: Boskalis' BOKA Vanguard, the largest semisubmersible heavy lift ship in the world.
General Dynamics brought in logistics giant Kuehne+Nagel to arrange the oversize shipment, including the technically demanding loadout process. The 17,000-tonne drydock would fit snugly on the Vanguard's 900-foot-long deck, but there would not be an abundance of room to spare.
“We had checklists. Then we had checklists for the checklists: every smallest detail accounted for, nothing left to chance,” said Aliye Erkan B?y?k, a logistics manager at Kuehne+Nagel's Istanbul office.
To position the drydock aboard the heavy lift ship, BOKA Vanguard needed to ballast down far enough that her main deck level was lower than the draft of the floating drydock, meaning deep water was a requirement. Once the drydock was clear of the pier at the shipyard, four tugs towed it out into open water to meet up with the heavy lift ship for loading. After positioning, BOKA Vanguard deballasted and the engineering team began carefully lashing the drydock to the deck.
The cargo, the largest floating drydock ever built in Turkey (Kuehne+Nagel)
BOKA Vanguard semi-submerged for loading (Boskalis / Kuehne+Nagel)
"The process of securing the drydock was not rushed and took several days: every centimeter, every millimeter had to be double-checked. We also had additional support boats on standby to shuttle crew and engineers between the port, the drydock, and the carrier ship," said Aliye.
When all was secured, BOKA Vanguard got under way from Turkey and headed for Cape Horn, bound for California. As of Thursday she was just outside of Punta Arenas.
BOKA Vanguard has been used as a simple floating drydock herself. In 2019, the cruise ship Carnival Vista had azipod issues that required out-of-water repairs, but the nearest shipyard (in the Bahamas) did not have an available dock. BOKA Vanguard took Carnival Vista aboard, lifted the cruise ship out of the water and transited to the shipyard, where yard staff made the repairs while the Vista was out of the water.
2013-built BOKA Vanguard is the world's biggest semisub heavy lift ship, by a wide margin. At 115,000 dwt and 900 feet in length, she is large enough to move some of the largest offshore rigs and floating production platforms. When submerged to the maximum depth possible for loading, BOKA Vanguard's keel sits more than 100 feet beneath the surface, making her (for brief periods) the deepest-draft merchant ship ever built.
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