More vessels visit Namport ship-repair facility

Otis Daniels
The Namibian Ports Authority (Namport)-operated Syncrolift - with a capacity to handle more than 460 vessels per annum at its bays and jetties - recorded an increase in the number of vessels handled at the repair yard.

According to statistics as at August 2022, the jetties at the facility in Walvis Bay were utilised 22% more (up from 47% for 2021–2022 to 69% in 2022–2023) and the bays available at the facility were utilised 3% more (up from 48% for 2021–2022 to 51% in 2022–2023).

An 18% decrease in vessels handled at the facility was, however, recorded in the past few years.

This is at the back of the local ship repair industry that marked a 15% decline following a depressed economy compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic. The latter was exacerbated by the various stages of Covid-19 lockdown in the country during 2020, which forced the fishing industry to shut down and halt operations.

Most of the vessels that call at the Syncrolift are local fishing vessels, launches and supply tugs, as well as multi-purpose vessels. Several vessels from Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Japan and Spain also make use of the Syncrolift.

The Syncrolift is strategically located and has a well maintained and reliable facility with an experienced and dedicated workforce, motivated by Namport’s vision to be the best performing seaport in Africa.

It provides a ship-repair facility to the marine shipping industry with the main purpose of drydocking vessels on its platforms with a total length of up to 80 metres, 14 metres width/beam and a lifting capacity of 2 000 tonnage. The facility also has four 105-metre jetties for lay-up work and temporary site rental.

Namport, through its Syncrolift ship-repair facilities, offers affordable tariffs as well as internationally-recognised technicians. Work commonly done at the Syncrolift repair yard includes pipe work, coatings and blasting, magnetic particle inspections, anchor chain calibration, propulsion valves and carpentry. Most of these jobs are carried out by private marine engineering firms, which indicates the entrepreneurial spin-off the Syncrolift offers to the Walvis Bay business community.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-23

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