With today’s delivery of a modern floating dock with the capacity to receive ships of up to 65,000 tons of displacement, Cuba is once again inserted in the international market for naval repairs.
The structure will allow the repair of Panamax-type ships and was manufactured within 18 months by the Chinese firm National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC), headquartered in Shanghai.
With a cost of 34 million dollars, it is 240 meters long, 48 meters wide, and a lifting capacity of 22,000 tons.
This work allows us to respond to the growing demand of our fleet and at the same time focus on the export of services, said Johannes Milian, general manager of the Cuban shipyards Caribbean Drydock Company (CDC), located in Havana Bay.
Repairs to vessels from other nations will help finance their purchase, Milian said during the delivery ceremony at CDC’s dock.
For his part, Yan Dong, assistant general of CMC, emphasized that the dock will give a great boost to the work in the Cuban shipyard, while predicting greater cooperation between the two companies.
Eighty-five percent of its financing comes from a preferential loan granted by the Chinese government.
(Prensa Latina)