FELS Completes Floating Dock for Hong Kong United Dockyards
FELS successfully delivered a floating dock ahead of schedule to Hongkong United Dockyards (HUD).
Mrs Anson Chan, Chief Secretary to the Hong Kong Government was at FELS Pioneer Yard on 14 January 1995 to officiate the naming ceremony of the "United Floating Dock".
The US$40 million dock is one of the largest floating docks to be built anywhere. It is self sufficient, having its own electrical power generation capacities, enabling offshore mooring independent of a yard.
It is equipped with control systems, eight ballast pumps with a pumping capacity of 38,400m3 per hour at nine metres head, and two travelling cranes of 70-tonne and 30-tonne capacities. Its overall length is 290 metres and its width is 57.5 metres, with a lifting capacity of 40,000 tonnes.
"We wanted a new, custom-made floating dock with high quality materials and equipment to withstand typhoon conditions," explained Mr Glyn Gough, HUD's Managing Director. "FELS has designed and built the dock to our specific requirements, allowing us to achieve our aim of serving the largest container carriers built to date.”
"This first project with HUD reinforces FELS' versatility as a specialist builder of ocean structures and specialised ships. In 1995/1996, FELS will make further investments of over $0 million in our production facilities in Singapore. This will enable FELS to continue to make improvements in safety, quality and productivity and remain a highly competitive contractor to our customers in the offshore and marine business," said Mr Choo Chiau Beng, Deputy Chairman of FELS.
HUD is a joint venture between Swire Pacific and Hutchison Whampoa and currently operates three floating docks with lifting capacity of up to 24,000 tonnes. It is one of the oldest yards in the world, with a history going back to more than 130 years. '
Mr Archibald Chan, Mrs Chan's husband and Director of Caltex Oil Hong Kong was also present at the naming ceremony, together with Mr Ian Dale, Deputy Director of Marine, Hong Kong Government; Mr Peter Sutch, Chairman of John Swire & Sons (HK), Swire Pacific, Cathay Pacific Air- ways; and Mr Benjamin Wong, Swire Director and HUD Chairman.
