ELGIN Brown & Hamer (EBH) Namibia announced last week that it will be increasing its capacity to dock vessels in Walvis Bay by approximately 60 percent with the addition of a third floating dock to their current operation.

Currently servicing approximately 74 vessels per year on their two floating docks makes EBH Namibia one of the most utilised shipyards on the west coast of Africa.

The 200 metre by 44 metre floating dock was purchased from the Forgacs group in Newcastle Australia. The dock, with a lifting capacity of 15 000 tons, is currently underway to Singapore where it will undergo extensive refurbishment before departing for Walvis Bay in March. It is expected to reach Walvis Bay by the middle of May.

Approximately 70 percent of vessels serviced on EBH Namibia floating docks are anchor handler tugs and platform support vessels operating in the oil and gas industry of West Africa. The remaining 30 percent consists of seismic vessels, subsea construction vessels, dredgers, tankers and container vessels.

Since 2006, EBH Namibia has established strong relationships with various multinational organisations, including Bourbon Offshore, Maersk Supply, Tide Water, Seacor, Subsea 7 and Royal Boskalis.

"EBH Namibia therefore believes that, with the growing demand for offshore supply and support vessels in the west coast of Africa, it can build on its successes of the past, and with the additional floating dock facilitate much-needed employment and skills development opportunities within the ship repair industry in Namibia," the company said in a press statement.