Navalrocha has been a leader in ship repair and maintenance since it opened its doors more than two decades ago. Now, having experienced another year of success, the shipyard is gearing up to implement several key investments. Commercial & Project Management Director Sérgio Rodrigues explained more, in an interview with Inside Marine. Report by Imogen Ward.
After several years of record-breaking achievements, Navalrocha has deemed 2024 a year for investment.
“2022 was a record year, and last year we did even better,” said Commercial & Project Management Director Sérgio Rodrigues.
“We managed to repair an amazing 54 vessels. This year, we hope to improve on that figure even further and have lined up several important investments to help achieve this.”
Navalrocha is a world-renowned shipyard based at Lisbon Harbour in Portugal;
a geographical position that has afforded its own advantages.
“Here in Portugal, we are blessed with more than 300 days of sun each year,” commented Mr Rodrigues. “With our operations focused mainly outside, this weather is hugely beneficial and has a direct impact on the speed of the process.”
The company operates out of a modern yard that features a repair pier capable of processing vessels with a length of up to 120m and a draft of up to 5.5m. Having previously been operating with three dry docks (the largest of which, accepting vessels with a width of up to 173.5m), the shipyard recently reopened a fourth.
“We have been successful in reopening our fourth dry dock, which was previously
under renovation,” said Mr Rodrigues. “This is currently the smallest of our docks.”
Over the years, the company has built a reputation for its work on smaller, niche vessels. The newly reopened dry dock will play an important role in Navalrocha’s retention of this expertise.
Changing the status quo
As part of its strategies for investment, Navalrocha also recently expanded its crane capacity. Following dock four’s return to service, the shipyard added a new crane between docks three and four. This joins Navalrocha’s fleet of oth ercranes, which includes three heavyload fixed cranes that are assigned to the shipyard’s larger projects, and one
strategically located on its pier the capacity of our pier,” explained Mr Rodrigues. “Currently, we are limited to a vessel length of 120m, but we are in discussions with Lisbon Harbour to extend this to 140m to meet the ever-increasing size of modern vessels. We hope this development will be complete before the end of this year.”
Everything that Navalrocha has achieved so far – and is set to achieve – has been made possible thanks to the hard work and dedication of its suppliers and partners.
Navalrocha regards each one as a pivotal part of the team and expressed a huge amount of gratitude for their continued loyalty: “When we say they are a part of the team, we really mean it,” said Mr Rodrigues. “They understand our needs and work perfectly in correla tion with our operations. To ensure their continued trust and confidence in us, we offer open and direct communication with all of these companies.”
New possibilities
Having previously committed to expanding its presence in the LPG segment, Navalrocha is off to a great start with three LPG projects completed in the first quarter of this year. All these
vessels had a full blast before a siliconebased coating was applied to the hull, which is an environmentally friendly option perfect for ship hull antifouling and one that Navalrocha has extensive experience with.
“We are definitely stepping into the LPG market, and we hope our presence here will flourish,” said Mr Rodrigues. “We already have another two projects booked in.”
The LPG segment is just one of the areas that Navalrocha hopes to continue working in. With a vast amount of experience in the cruise industry, the company intends to continue repairing an average of six cruise ships a year.
Chemical carriers and the offshore sector are also of increasing interest to the shipyard. Just last year, the company was contracted to work on SERAYA, an offshore supply ship, and this year it has several dredging barges booked in.
“We are really looking forward to these projects, and we hope to be awarded even more dredging-based contracts in the future,” commented Mr Rodrigues. “Having just increased our dock clearance up to 2.5m, we feel we now have an added advantage in this area, as we have more room for thruster removal.”
Following the announcement of a new wind farm in Portugal, Navalrocha
also expects this to have an impact on the number of offshore vessels it services.
Green growth
In line with Portugal’s increasing commitment to green energy, Navalrocha is also making its own promises, including the vow to transition from wet sandblasting to hydroblasting.
“Wet sandblasting is the procedure we currently use for cleaning the vessels ready for marine coating,” explained Mr Rodrigues. “We are in the active process of transitioning to hydroblasting,
and we have two companies conducting tests on this alternative method.
“This will be a gradual adjustment, and we will endeavour to use both methods side-by-side until the time we have adequate equipment to take on hydroblasting full-time.”
The company believes a more generalised expansion is on the cards too. Following on from several years of successful growth, Navalrocha regards its position as stable for both its workload and its employees.
“Having reached a point of clear stability , we are now talking about what we can
do to increase the number of projects we complete in a year, and we are especially interested in drawing in more specialist vessels,” said Mr Rodrigues, in conclusion. “It is a challenge, but one that we are confident we can overcome.
“We have an amazing team of motivated individuals who believe in our goals and are working hard to make them happen. No matter what way the tide turns, we are ready .” n
