Bahrain-based Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard Company (Asry) achieved a net operating income of $115.408 million in the first eight months of 2011, said its chairman.

Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa added that the number of vessels repaired during this period reached 127.

He was speaking at the 125th meeting of Asry board of directors on Thursday, which was attended by representatives of the remaining shareholding countries Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, Iraq and Libya.

After the meeting, Shaikh Daij announced that the board reviewed the company's financial and operational results for the first eight months of the current year.

The board thanked the management and employees for their sincere and hard work which was carried out in the face of severe competition.

'We hope that there will be improvement in the ship repair market which is still suffering from slackness and severe competition and certainly the policy of diversification into offshore repairs will help Asry to overcome this difficult period,' the chairman said.

The board also discussed the progress of the expansion project which will be inaugurated in December under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad in the presence of officials from Bahrain and other shareholding states.

The board listened to a presentation by the management about the power barge project and hailed this new important project which aims at providing electricity in cases of natural disasters, hostile environment and energy shortfall.

The length of each power barge will be 82 metres and its width will be 28 metres and can be deployed at any location globally.

The board approved forming a joint venture for this purpose with Centrax Limited and gave its go-ahead to execute the project. – TradeArabia News Service