$1.5bn Badagry dockyard gets Samsung, Hyundai as technical partners

Badagry Ship Repair and Maritime Engineering Company (BSMEC), a consortium of five Nigerian firms, has named Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries as technical partners to the development of the ship repair project at Badagry, Lagos.

The consortium, which restated its commitment to the project, said Samsung and Hyundai would be investing in the facility as promoters as well as adding their technical expertise. The facility will undertake the repairs and maintenance of large vessels and offshore units, while the catchment area of the facility will include the West African market.

Speaking after its fourth strategic partners meeting in Lagos, Taiwo Afolabi, chairman of BSMEC, said the project, if completed would be a game changer.

“The vision of this facility is to establish a world-class ship repair and maintenance centre in Nigeria, which will take care of the huge number of vessels that currently operate in Nigeria. It will create jobs, develop both the maritime and oil industries, and act as foreign exchange earner, among other benefits.

“The consortium is working with various globally-tested technical partners and shipyard operators. Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries are part of the project, while we have also opened discussions with Damen Shipyard in Holland. All the partners are committed to see this project come to a completion,” he said.

BusinessDay search reveals that Hyundai Shipbuilding Division, the world’s number one shipbuilder, leads the global shipbuilding industry with 15 percent share of the market. While Samsung Heavy Industries has received orders for 1,054 units of ships from the world’s leading shippers (as of December 31, 2013).

Damen Shipyard operates many shipyards worldwide and does both ship repair and conversion of oceangoing vessels and platforms in a broad sense.

Specific markets in which the yard has developed a string experience are VLCC, ULCC, Suez – and Aframax tankers, LPG, LNG carriers, VLCS, ULCS and PCCs. Others include capesize and panamax bulkers, cruise liners, RoRo, Ropax, off shore platforms, semi-subs, jack-ups, PSV, OSV and various other off-shore working vessels, FPSOs and conversions works on various vessel types.