May 17, 2008

Cicek Shipyard starts building Supramax bulk carrier

Marinelog reported that Turkish Cicek Shipyard has begun construction of the first of three 58,000 DWT Supramax bulk carriers for Bayraktar Shipping Group. The carriers will be constructed in the shipbuilder's Panamax sized building dock, which is currently being extended to 215 meters and when completed will be 250 meter long.

Mr Berke Cicek VP of Cicek Shipyard said hat "It was impossible for a private Turkish shipyard to build a 15,000 DWT vessel when we started our expansion plan but the outlook for building supramaxes and capesizes in Turkey now looks very promising."

It may be noted that Cicek Shipyard started construction of the building dock at its Tuzla Bay facility in 1999, but lack of government support resulted in its not being completed until 2006. It is served by a 300 tonne gantry crane and has already been used to construct four IMO II chemical tankers. Three of these were ice class 1A vessels for Besiktas Shipping, the 18,000 DWT Besiktas England and Besiktas Scotland, and the 26,000DWT Besiktas Jutland, while the fourth is a 20,000 DWT tanker currently under construction for the Kaptanoglu Group. The yard also has a 160 meter long slipway served by a 200 tonne gantry crane and a smaller slipway suitable for building coastal vessels.

In addition to the 58,000 DWT Supramax bulk carriers, Cicek has contracts for two 1,300 TEU containerships, also for Bayraktar, that are due to be launched in April and August 2008, two 24,000 DWT bulk carriers for a foreign shipping company, one for delivery in 2009 and the other in the first half of 2010 and four 3,150 DWT IMO II chemical tankers for delivery in 2008.