The government of the Brazilian state of Paraíba has signed a Protocol of Intention with Chinese ship repair yard IMC YY for cooperation on the Brasil Basin Drydock Company (BBDC) project.
The arrangement will see China’s IMC YY operate BBDC’s Empresa de Docagens Pedra do Ingá (EDPI) facility under a long-term agreement, McQuilling Services, one of the shareholders of BBDC, announced.
The BBDC project will be the largest purpose-built ship repair yard in the south Atlantic basin. It will feature two large graving docks for dry-docking vessels up to the size of Valemax ships and a hydrolift for smaller offshore support vessels, according to McQuilling.
Part of a larger, harbor-wide Cabedelo development initiative, the USD 900 million project will be located in the municipality of Lucena in the state of Paraíba, across the harbor from the Port of Cabedelo, at the easternmost tip of South America and built in several phases.
BBDC’s EDPI yard is planned for a drydocking throughput of more than 120 vessels per year.
“With environmental and engineering activities on track, our focus now is raising the primary equity for Phase One, about USD 70 million, with a target for first repair operations to commence in 2022,” David Saginaw, commercial director for McQuilling Services, commented.