Vibrant Middle East market seen for workboats

"Driven by the development of offshore oil and gas and a plethora of maritime and shoreline projects, a growing variety of sturdy workboats is in increasing demand throughout the region,"

said Christopher Hayman, Chairman of Seatrade, organisers of the region's premier event focused on workboats to be held in Abu Dhabi later this year.

Workboats include tugs, ferries, supply vessels; police, fire, patrol, pilot, rescue and oil spill boats; along with, dredgers, barges and floating cranes, among others with more than 2,000 such vessels estimated to be docked or repaired in the Middle East.

The 2009 Middle East Workboats exhibition and conference will take place from 5-7 October at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister for Public Works and Chairman of the National Transport Authority.

Demand for tugs and other support vessels for the region's offshore oil and gas industry remains a vibrant market showing no major sign of diminishing, Hayman added. "Some operators may slow down exploration and development activity but few are expected to cut back dramatically," he added. "In fact, new vessels to support the offshore industry in the Gulf continue to be ordered or delivered."

Offshore supply vessels deliver everything from drill pipe to drinking water to oil and gas drilling rigs and platforms at sea. Shallow water production - like that of the Middle East - is the largest offshore market.

In a testament to the vibrancy of workboat business in the Middle East, the market is also escaping the worst of the credit crunch. Sharjah-based Lamnalco, recently successfully arranged a $125m loan facility with international banks to refinance its fleet of tugs and offshore supply vessels and fund a global vessel acquisition programme.

Increasing numbers of such vessels are also being built in the region. Zamil Offshore Services, which owns, operates and maintains the largest offshore support fleet in the Middle East, recently launched an anchor handling, tug and supply vessel built at its own shipyard in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

"Even if a full-blown global economic recovery is still some way off, the only way investment in development of the region's abundant oil and gas reserves doesn't make sense is if you believe that economies such as China and India will never grow," Hayman said.

Billions of dollars of investment have also been poured into marine and shoreline projects in the Gulf such as Dubai's Palms and World developments but also Reem Island, Saadiyat Island and Bani Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. All will need a variety of workboats from police and rescue boats to passenger ferries, fire boats and even waste disposal vessels.

In a parallel development, Dubai is working on a ferry project with 10 boats each capable of seating 100 people being built in China. They are designed to provide a transport link with urban areas in the neighbourhood of the waterfronts of Dubai Creek, the Palm Islands, the Lagoon and canals.

"Shoreline projects are reaching maturity along the UAE coast and there is a growing need for the right type emergency boats to provide the sophisticated maritime firefighting and rescue services expected of modern cities as well as the kind of vessels needed to service these new, maritime communities," said Hayman.

Principal sponsors of Middle East Workboats 2009 are DNV, ESNAAD, Irshad. Other sponsors are DVB, ABS, Lamnalco, Svitzer, Topaz Energy & Marine and Wartsila. Supporting organisations are the International Marine Contractors Association and the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.