Project:

Concept design of shipbuilding and ship repair facilities

Country:

India

Client:

Year:

2007-2008

Bharati Shipyard Limited is one of India’s leading commercial shipbuilders. In 2007, First Marine International (FMI) was awarded the contract to prepare the concept designs for the development of shipbuilding and ship repair facilities at three sites on the west coast of India. Two of the facilities were to be developed on greenfield sites at Mangalore and Dhabol while the third was to be a redevelopment of Bharati’s existing facilities at Ratnagiri.

The development of the concept designs was in two distinct phases. The first phase completed in March 2007 addressed the development of facilities at Ratnagiri and Mangalore. The second phase, completed in February 2008 focused on the facilities at Dhabol.

Although the client had a clear view of the target market, a brief market review confirmed that the optimum target product mix for the three facilities would include a range of vessels from tugs, OSVs and vessels up to handymax size. From this, a target product mix and annual throughput for shipbuilding and repair operations was established.

Using the optimum target product mix and throughput, the maximum potential for each of the sites was determined. EachRatnagiri is to focus primarily on the construction of small vessels with a ship repair capability, Mangalore is to focus on repair up to handysize with the ability for new construction, and Dhabol is to focus on the construction of handymax vessels together with a repair capability.

The production area requirements, manning levels and overall level of applied technology were calculated. Four alternative arrangements for the overall layout of the facilities were prepared for each of the sites together with the order of magnitude development costs.

The final concept designs for all sites were approved by the client in June 2008.

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Project:

Masterplan for major shipbuilding and shiprepair facility

Country:

Saudi Arabia

Client:

FDSCO

Year:

2006-2008

First Marine International (FMI) has prepared the master plan design for the development of a majorshipbuilding and ship repair facility in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the port of Yanbu-Al-Bahr on the Red Sea. During the development of the master plan the client engaged a leading Far East shipbuilding and repair company to assume operating responsibility for the completed facility. The final master plan has been approved and the detail design phase will start in the near future.

The master plan for the facility was developed in three distinct phases to ensure a viable business strategy.

A market study analysed the international shipbuilding and repair markets and the potential market capture and revenue for the shipyard.

From this, a target product mix and annual throughput for shipbuilding and repair operations was established.

Using the results of the market study, the production area requirements, manning levels and overall level of applied technology were determined. Four alternative arrangements for the overall layout of the facilities were prepared for the available site together with the order of magnitude development costs. Subsequently, one arrangement was approved for further development.

The agreed design concept was developed to define the layout of all of the production workshops, ship construction and repair berths, outfitting and repair quays and jetties.

The technology to be applied was described for over one hundred and twenty areas of
shipbuilding and ship repair operations. This included the pre-production areas such as ship design, engineering, production engineering, purchasing and planning.

An outline specification of all principal production and repair equipment and tooling was developed together with the quantities required and the budget cost.

The final master plan was approved by the client and the operating partners in September 2008 and FMI were requested to submit proposals for the development of the detailed design of the shipyard.

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Project:

Design of a compact shipyard

Country:

UK

Client:

Harland & Wolff Heavy Industries

Year:

Harland & Wolff were one of the UK’s foremost shipbuilders capable of constructing 1,000,000 dwt vessels. After focusing on the offshore sector for a number of years, H&W decided to reassess the shipbuilding market in 2000 with a view to developing their aging facilities.

First Marine International was commissioned to undertake a market study and to develop the shipyard design concept for a high technology compact shipyard.

Market research showed that the large vessel market was no longer available to European shipbuilders and that the shipyard needed to undergo a significant redevelopment, rationalisation and cultural change. To become a sustainable business, H&W needed to focus on high value complex vessels, improve its performance by 50% and significantly reduce overhead costs.

Two alternative design concepts were developed by FMI each occupying around 20% of the area of the old facility. A ship factory concept was adopted for the design of the facility whereby ship construction was a continuous uni-directional workflow from the steel stockyard to the building dock. A workstation, productoriented operating philosophy was adopted with outfitting fully integrated with the assembly of the structure.

The total cost for the development of the new compact shipyard was estimated at being approximately £30million.

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Project:

Long range facility plan

Country:

USA

Client:

National Steel and Shipbuilding

Year:

1996-1997

NASSCO is one of the top five naval auxiliary and commercial shipbuilders in the US. In 1996, First Marine International was awarded the contract to prepare a long range plan for the development of the NASSCO facilities in San Diego, California.

The plan was to redevelop NASSCO’s existing production facilities and to introduce advanced work breakdown and organisation methods in order to significantly improve performance and profitability.

Following a detailed technology and market survey to determine the optimum product mix and target throughput for the facility, FMI prepared four design concepts for the developed facility.

Although the naval shipbuilding market was clearly defined, the shipyard wanted to make significant inroads into the commercial shipbuilding market, constructing vessels up to Suezmax size.

One of the design concepts presented by FMI was agreed and was further developed into a master plan for the facility design and construction. The redevelopment was extensive and the phasing was crucial as the shipyard had to remain fully operational throughout reconstruction. The project was planned in three phases spanning a period of eight years at a total estimated cost of $250 million.

This project was the beginning of an eight-year working relationship between NASSCO and FMI.