Foreign press lauds work flow at Malta Drydocks

The Maltese dockyards are not always seen in bad light. Lloyds list yesterday reported that the Malta Drydocks was fully occupied, and that the recent run of bookings for the yard has given work to all five of its five docks.

The report which appeared in the Tuesday issue of the London Financial Times reports that the 33,429 gt US logistics vessel, 2nd Lt John P Bobo, built in 1985 arrived at Valletta earlier this month and entered Malta Drydocks to deal with engine problems encountered in the west of the Mediterranean.

The newspaper said the vessel is heavily loaded with military equipment, some of which had to be offloaded.

Indeed, our photographer captured the unloading from the USS 2nd Lt John P Bobo.

The London Financial Times also notes that the six-week repair job follows work done on the US Sixth Fleet flagship USS La Salle last year.

The report continues to report that the brand new Turkish vessel Besiktas (82,250 gt) is also undergoing repairs to her bridge wings and has been docked in the No. 6 dry dock, although it was reported that repairs to the tanker, still under guarantee, would be done outside the dock.

And it adds that in the Number 4 and 5 dry docks are two vessels belonging to Fednav Intl of Montreal, the 1985-built Federal Polaris (17,820 gt) and the 1987-built Utviken (17,191 gt). Both are registered in Nassau. A 2001 construction, the Valletta-registered catamaran San Gwann (973 gt) is in at No 2 dock.

And the Oslo-registered LPG carrier Hugo N was booked in to Malta Drydocks.