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‘Saipan drydock to open in 6 months’
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Posted on Apr 12 2006
Marianas Shipyard is expected to begin its operations of a drydock facility at the Port of Saipan within six months.
Commonwealth Ports Authority consultant Carlos H. Salas said yesterday that Guam Shipyard, which is doing business as Marianas Shipyard, has 30 days to finalize the agreement.
“There’s quite a few things that they need to do such as permitting, some engineering work,” said Salas.
Once this is done, he said the company could operate in five to six months.
The drydock contract costs $4 million for five years. The company can renew the contract for another five years.
On the ninth year, the company has the option to extend the contract for an additional five years.
The project involves constructing a small ship repair and manufacturing facility at the North Seaplane Ramp in Lower Base.
Currently, CPA said it has a poorly equipped drydock facility, which uses a drydocking method that is crude and unsafe.
The drydock project hopes to expand the CPA’s non-tariff revenue sources by providing additional services to small to medium-sized sea vessels like tug boats, smaller cruise liners, and other small water-borne vessels.
Tinian Shipping had also recently proposed setting up a drydock facility on Tinian, mainly to service its vessels.
