DryDocks announces partnership

Dubai’s shipyard operator Drydocks World announced Wednesday a new joint venture with a Pacific Carriers Ltd, a part of the Kuok Group. The venture, named DDW-PaxOcean Asia Pte Ltd, will be located in Singapore. The chairman of the new venture’s board will be Khamis Juma Bu Amim, who is also the chairman of Drydocks World and Maritime World. “They are on the same business and they have fleets, as well as ship repair facilities in China. By forming a partnership with them, we will have the ability to offer bigger distributors to customers in China,” said Bu Amim. Initial reports said Pacific Carriers Ltd., which is a subsidiary of the Kuok (Singapore) Ltd, will take 60-70 per cent stake in the new company. Bu Amim refuted to that and said the process will not be finished until August.“The joint venture agreement is signed, but the stakes are not yet determined,” he said. Financial terms were not disclosed and the deal is to be closed in the third quarter of this year. DDW, which is responsible for ship repair, shipbuilding, rig building and has fleet operations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, bought its Southeast Asian operations that are based in Singapore and Indonesia for $2.2 billion in 2007. Bu Amim said the process of restructuring DDW’s $2.2 billion (Dh8.09 billion) debts, which it issued to fund the expansion, is almost finished. Ninety eight per cent of the company’s agreements with lenders has been completed, he said. The remaining 2 per cent of the debt is still being negotiated. DDW and Pacific Carriers Ltd will cooperate on cross-promotional activities and strategic initiatives within the offshore and marine industry. Pacific Carriers’ activities include ship owning, ship management and offshore marine support services. The Kuok (Singapore) Group also operates two shipbuilding and repair facilities in China titled Pax Ocean. from gulfnews.com