VESSEL REVIEW | New floating drydock to support General Dynamics NASSCO's ship construction and repair activities

Turkish shipbuilder Gemak recently delivered a new floating drydock to US-based General Dynamics NASSCO.

The drydock has a length of 253 metres (830 feet), a beam of 54 metres (180 feet), a height of 21 metres (69 feet), a displacement of 17,300 tonnes, and a capacity of 35,000 tonnes.

Overcoming transport challenges

Logistics specialist Kuehne+Nagel, which has been entrusted with the transport scope, said that it is the largest floating drydock ever built in Turkey. Loading it onto the heavy lift vessel that would transport it to General Dynamics NASSCO's facilities in San Diego, California, therefore require precise calculations beforehand.

According to Aliye Erkan Biyik, National Project Logistics Manager at Kuehne+Nagel, the actual loading operation took several days and required the assistance of four tugs and a number of support boats for transporting crew and engineers between the drydock, the heavy lift vessel and the port.

The dock was transported more than 13,500 nautical miles across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans from Turkey to Long Beach in California on board Boskalis' large semi-submersible heavy lift vessel Boka Vanguard.

The transit encountered storms with wave heights of up to 20 metres (65 feet). Due to the large size of the heavy lift vessel (275 by 75 metres), navigation via the Panama Canal was not possible, thus necessitating navigation around South America.

Versatile asset supporting commercial and naval ship construction and repair

The new NASSCO dock was built in compliance with American Bureau of Shipping class requirements.

Once operational, it will support the construction and repair of both commercial and naval vessels.