After a one-month long journey on board COSCO Shipping’s heavy lift vessel Xin Guang Hua, Damen’s two floating dry docks have arrived in Curaçao, a Dutch Caribbean island.
Xin Guang Hua had to wait out for the heavy winds and currents on April 28 to pass before being hauled into harbor early Sunday morning by KTK tugboat Manta.
Whole #Curacao came out to welcome the new #Damen floating docks. Due to increasing wind and currents, the mega ship couldn’t enter the harbor. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow for another try. Guess we can enjoy this extraordinary feat even longer! Proud of our pilots and tugs. pic.twitter.com/St9aKVSe1w
— Eugene Rhuggenaath (@EugeneRhugg) April 28, 2018
The locals in Willemstad, the capital of Curaçao, gathered to welcome the arrival of the floating docks, which are part of Damen’s USD 40 million worth investment in the yard’s infrastructure and equipment. The yard is located on the route to the Panama Canal and features two graven docks and almost 2 kilometers of quayside.
It was taken over by Damen in February 2017 and has been renamed Damen Shiprepair Curaçao (DSCu).
The 255-meter semi-submersible sailed 5,000 miles to transport the 120-meter floating dry dock, accommodated inside the 230-meter Panama dock.
The two drydocks are aimed at bolstering the ship repair capacity at Damen’s Curaçao-based yard. They are expected to become operational in August, this year.
The heavy cargo was loaded on March 29 in the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands and departed for the Caribbean on March 31.
The loading process and the heavy lift vessel’s departure are shown in the video below.
World Maritime News Staff; Image Courtesy: Karel Frielink