Our Odyssey
The shipping industry’s evolution is one of constant transformation and innovation, quality and expectation, safety and environmental concerns. All of these varied dynamics are an everyday occurrence for Colombo Dockyard and continues to remain so as we etch our historical journey, ‘from here to the world’.
Established in 1974, Colombo Dockyard is Sri Lanka’s leading ship repair, shipbuilding, heavy engineering and offshore engineering facility. Conveniently located within the port of Colombo, the hub of all major shipping lanes connecting the West, the Middle East, the Far East, as well as Africa and Australia, Colombo Dockyard has a strategic advantage to conduct both dry dock and afloat operations. Colombo Dockyard, as a state of the art engineering entity, operates four graving dry docks with a maximum capacity of 125,000 DWT and extensive repair berth facilities.
Colombo Dockyard, in existence for over three decades, continues to keep its eyes on the horizon, pre-empting trends and preparing for transformation. While the Company remains relatively small in size compared to competitors in the Asian region, our differentiation lies in the way we do business.
Five core values that have helped Colombo Dockyard in its odyssey,
- Flexibility
- Innovation
- Being customer centric
- Environment friendly
- People focused
Colombo Dockyard’s niche position in building some of the world’s most unique vessels holds the Company in good stead. The emphasis on absolute quality and the infusion of green initiatives (some of them, pioneering features in this region) as well as our processes, give us a competitive stance that are far ahead of those established in the South Asian region.
This has resulted in improving our capabilities of effecting difficult and sometimes unique processes, building techniques and repairs, that have helped us carve out our own special position in this industry.
Important corporate milestones
The year of economic prosperity
- Completion of the five largest vessels in the history of the Company (NC209, NC210, NC215, NC216 and NC217)
- Started operations and built first vessel (NC221) in Kelani River Yard (KRY site)
- Awarded the Best Corporate Citizen for Governance and Economic Contribution and Top Ten Category winner
- Silver award for excellence in Annual Reporting from the Service Sector
- Three Gold awards for ‘Excellence in Exportation’ while winning the ‘Most Value-added Exporter of the Year’ for the second consecutive year from NCE Export Awards
- Reached the 6th position out of Top 20 Companies in Sri Lanka in terms of revenue
- Implementation of Performance Standard for Protective Coating (PSPC) system
- Upgrading of ISO 9001:2008 International Quality Management Standard
- Amongst the top 200 Asian firms with sales under a billion US dollars in the annual Forbes financial magazine list
The year of success despite the global economic crisis
- Enhancing cranage capacity by 20 tons and operation capacity of Dry Dock no 03 concentrating more on Offshore Supply Vessels and Drill Ships repairs
- Completion of first ever passenger cum 100 ton cargo vessel ‘Arabian Sea’ built for the government of India
- Outsourcing of Heavy Engineering activities to the subsidiary of Dockyard General Engineering Services (DGES)
National Recognition
- Award for the ‘Best Corporate Citizen for Employee Relations’ and Top Ten Category winner
- Gold award for ‘Excellence in Annual Reporting from the Service Sector’ for the third consecutive year
- Four gold awards for ‘Excellence in Exportation’ while winning the ‘Most Outstanding Exporter’ of the Year for the second consecutive year
Structural adjustments
- Shifting to a New Head Office Building
- Expansion of shipbuilding facilities up to total land area of 2,575 square meters.
- Building of Deck Barge for enhanced shipbuilding capacity
- New technological adaptation
- Use of ‘line heating’ technology
- Computer Aided Designs (CAD)
- Computer-numerically controlled plate marking and cutting technologies for steel, aluminum, MIG, TIG and submerged arc welding techniques
- Implementation of non destructive examination technology
- Completed a number of major yard expansion projects during the year with over Rs. 462 Mn investment
- Delivery of 6 newly constructed ships during the year
- In house designed state of the art Aluminum Hull for Fisheries Protection Vessel
- Building of the first Anchor Handling Tug/Supply Vessel (AHTSV) of 80 T BP (NC207, NC208) for Greatship (India) Ltd
- Aluminium Hull built in Sri Lanka (NC 200) – 40 M Fisheries Protection Vessel for the Republic of Maldive
- Building of first Tug Boat to an International Client (NC202, NC203 and NC204)
- Internationalization of Shipbuilding Activities & Breakthrough to Middle Eastern Market
- Internationalization of Shipbuilding Activities & Breakthrough to Middle Eastern Market
- Expansion of Dock No. 2 for enhanced shipbuilding capacity
- Diversification: Commencement of Offshore Engineering and Maintenance Sector
- Major Repairs to Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit ‘Sagar Vijay’
- First Project to the Indian Navy: OE 0002 – Retrofitting of Floating Dock Navy
- Upgrading the Quality Management System to ISO 9001: 2000
- International Quality Accreditation – Certified to ISO 9001: Lloyds Register of Quality Assurance (LRQA)
- First aluminium vessel to the Republic of Maldives and the first vessel to the National Security Services built by Yard Nos. 122/123 – Coastal Surveillance Vessels (CSV)
- Sapugaskanda Power Plant Extension Project (Client – MAN B&W Diesel AG, Germany/Ceylon Electricity Board)
- Diversification of business activities – Commencement of Heavy Engineering Sector
- Sapugaskanda Power Plant Extension Project (Client – MAN B&W Diesel AG, Germany/Ceylon Electricity Board)
- Major re-structuring of CDL and CDD and Collaboration with Onomichi Dockyard, Japan
- Commencement of aluminium Shipbuilding in Sri Lanka – Yard No. 106: Fast Patrol Boat for Sri Lanka Navy
- CDD commences operation at the 125,000 DWT newly built Dry dock
- CDL functions as the Manager for CDD
- First Shipbuilding project to the Republic of Maldives
- Yard No. 78/81: Fish Collector Vessels for State Trading Organization (STO)
- Incorporation of Galle Slipway & Engineering (Private) Limited
- CDD was converted into a Public Limited Liability Company and established as a Licensed Enterprise under the GCEC Laws (currently BOI)
- First export order in Shipbuilding
- Yard Nos. 57/58 Split Hopper Barges for Burma Ports Corporation, Myanmar
- Incorporation of Colombo Drydocks Limited (CDD) as a Private Limited Liability Company
- First Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) built in Sri Lanka
- Yard Nos. 40/41:40 M Offshore Patrol Vessels for Sri Lanka Navy
- First Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) built in Sri Lanka
- Incorporation of Ceylon Bulk Carriers Limited as a wholly owned subsidiary of CDL, which was renamed as Dockyard General Engineering Services (Pte) Limited in 1981
- First Tug Boat built in Sri Lanka (Yard No. 25 – 365 BHP Towing Tug for Colombo Port Commission)
- First vessel to Colombo Port Commission (Yard No. 13 – 100 T Barge)
- Incorporation of Ceylon Shipping Agency Pte Ltd in Singapore, jointly with Ceylon Shipping Corporation
- produces mooring barge for Colombo Port Commission (CPC)
- Yard No. 4 produces first Patrol boat (14 metre) for Sri Lanka Navy
- Start of steel shipbuilding in Sri Lanka
- Incorporation of Colombo Dockyard Ltd (CDL)
- Begins operation of a ship repair facility with three dry docks (1 x 30,000 DWT / 2 x 8000 DWT) Dock numbers 1, 2 and 3
