Dubai, one of the world’s leading ports, is also a shipbuilding hub. Dubai Drydocks, which long specialised in ship repair, branched out into construction with the Safinaproject in 2005.

A new dry dock for ship being built and repaired was commissioned in the summer of 2006. The lift, built on a general contracting basis by the Soletanche Bachy – NSCC joint venture, enables the vessel to be moved vertically and horizontally and operates like a slipway but incorporates a reverse hydraulic process. The structure is made up of a transfer platform set above sea level, an adjacent basin that opens to the sea, two abutments and a sill, a quay platform, two gates and two mooring dolphins.