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(Continued from page 50) ship repair sales peaked at $8.4 million, the highest monthly figure since the record of $9.3 million set in February 1997. Ship repair sales for the quarter were in line with budget expec- tations at $21 million. These figures were a healthy 25 percent above the difficult market conditions seen in the fourth quarter 1997, but 20 percent below the corresponding period in 1997. Since March, both April and May have returned to a slow market. A satisfactory number of vessels were repaired by the yard during the quarter, with 34 ships — ranging from ULCCs to small pollu- tion control barges — visiting the yard. This compares with 37 vessels for the same period in 1997. According to ASRY, repair contract val- ues have also be down on last year. The two new alongside Berths 7 and 8 are now in opera- tion and the second phase of the planned increase in the yard's compressed air capacity is scheduled to be completed by 3Q 1998. ASRYs environmentally friendly marine sludge treat- ment plant, which was commissioned in November 1997, has been well received by own- ers and is experiencing high demand. During the latter part of May, ULCC Sea Splendour, which is owned by Sweden's Frontline and managed by Norway's Jahre- Wallem, drydocked at the yard, the ship start- ing its repair operation in Dubai, where boiler work was completed, and then coming to Bahrain for steelwork, estimated to be in the region of 1,000 tons. This should push the price of repair, which will include a fourth special survey, to between $5 and 6 million Rotterdam's RDM has purchased Wilton Fijenoord Holdings BV, owners of Rotterdam's two large shiprepair yards, Verolme Botlek and Wilton Fijenoord and the newbuilding ship- yard, Verolme Heus-den. It has also been announced that RDM is now in discussions with Rotterdam's Yssel-Vliet Combinate (YVC) for the take over of the Wilton Fijenoord repair yard at Schiedam. The shipyard, which employs some 280 workers, comprises two float- ing docks of 90,000 and 38,000 tons lifting capacity, and two graving docks of 160,000 dwt and 40,000 dwt capacity, the latter graving dock being covered. The yard, once one of Rotterdam's major shipbuilding/shiprepairing facilities, has been concentrating on shiprepair activities since completing a series of sub- marines for the Taiwanese Navy during the late 1970s. YVC currently operates two shipyards in the Rotterdam area — YVC Bolnes, which special- izes in ship repair and conversion, and the new- building yard across the Maas at Capelle aan den Ijssel (YVC Ysselwerf), and a section build- ing yard at Groot Ammers. The repair yard at Bolnes comprises two floating docks of 25,000 and 18,000 tons lifting capacity, It is the long term intention that the ship repair yard at Bolnes will be closed and all shiprepair and con- version activities will be centralized at the Schiedam yard and then the newbuilding yard at Ijssel, will also close down and newbuilding activities will also be relocated to Schiedam. The section building yard at Groot Amers will be unaffected by this development. In its opening month, Dublin's Harris Pye Drydocks, formerly Dublin Drydocks, has secured over $1.5 million worth of orders, with Chief Executive Peter Schmidt saying he is confident on building on this very good start and stated that "we now have, in conjunction with Harris Pye, a very good management team in place and we have a good nucleus of skilled workers. This, together with the extensive back-up Harris Pye can provide, will ensure a bright future for Harris Pye Drydocks in Dublin." The privatization of Lithuania's Western Shiprepair Yard is beginning to slow following a disappointing response or interest from western-based parties. The yard has only received three initial bids, all three from former eastern coun- tries. The first is a joint venture between Baltija Shipyard (Kallingrad) and a local Lithuanian investment group; the second comes from Riga Shipyard, in neighbouring Latvia; and the third from a joint venture between a Ukrainian company and a Lithuanian investment group. It is therefore likely that the Lithuanian government may postpone the privatization until more western companies come forward. The current asking price for the yard is some $20 to 25 million, but market sources indicate that $17 million would a more realistic price. South Africa's Elgin Brown & Hamer (EB&H) has received permission from Portnet, South Africa's state-owned port authority, to locate a floating dock in the port of Durban. 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