A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where are shipbuilding and repaired. These can be , military vessels, or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involved with original construction, dockyards are sometimes more linked with maintenance and basing activities. The terms are routinely used interchangeably, in part because the evolution of dockyards and shipyards has often caused them to change or merge roles.
Countries with large shipbuilding industries include Australia, Brazil, China, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam. The shipbuilding industry is more fragmented in Europe than in Asia where countries tend to have fewer, larger companies. Many naval vessels are built or maintained in shipyards owned or operated by the national government or navy.
Shipyards are constructed near the sea or tidal rivers to allow easy access for their ships. The United Kingdom, for example, has shipyards on many of its rivers.
The site of a large shipyard will contain many specialised cranes, , , dust-free warehouses, painting facilities and extremely large areas for fabrication of the ships. After a ship's useful life is over, it makes its final voyage to a ship-breaking yard, often on a beach in South Asia. Historically ship-breaking was carried out in drydock in developed countries, but high wages and environmental regulations have resulted in movement of the industry to third-world regions.
History
The oldest structure sometimes identified as a dockyard was built by the Indus Valley civilisation in the Harappan port city of Lothal (in present-day
Gujarat).
[
]
Lothal's dockyards connected to an ancient course of the
Sabarmati river on the trade route between
cities in
Sindh and the peninsula of Saurashtra when the present-day surrounding
Kutch desert formed a part of the
Arabian Sea.
Lothal engineers accorded high priority to the creation of a dockyard and a warehouse to serve the purposes of maritime trade.
The name of the ancient Greek city on the Gulf of Corinth, Naupactus, means "shipyard" (combination of the Greek language words ναύς naus: "ship, boat"; and πήγνυμι pêgnumi, pegnymi: "builder, fixer"). Naupactus' reputation in this field extended back into legendary times – the site is traditionally identified by Greek authors such as Ephorus and Strabo as the place where a fleet was said to have been built by the legendary Heraclidae[
]
to invade the Peloponnesus.
In the Spanish city of Barcelona, the Drassanes shipyards were active from at least the mid-13th century until the 18th century, although at times they served as a barracks for troops as well as an arsenal. During their time of operation the Drassanes were continuously changed, rebuilt and modified, but two original towers and part of the original eight construction-naves remain today. The site is currently a maritime museum.
From the 14th century, several hundred years before the Industrial Revolution, ships were the first items to be manufactured in a factory – in the Venice Arsenal of the Venetian Republic in present-day Italy. The Arsenal apparently mass production nearly one ship every day using pre-manufactured parts and . At its height in the 16th century the enterprise employed 16,000 people.
Spain built component ships of the Spanish Armada of 1588 at ports such as Algeciras or Málaga.
Historic shipyards
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Lothal in Gujarat, India circa 2400 BC to 1900 BC
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Naupactus
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Tel Abu Saifi, Northern Sinai Peninsula, a 4th-century BCE, Ptolemaic Era, Egyptian dockyard, with two dry docks.
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Roman shipyard of Stifone (Narni)
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Blackwall Yard 1614 to 1987
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Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock, Scotland, 1711–1984
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Kraljevica Shipyard established on 28 April 1729 and still operating yard
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Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd 1837 to 1912
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William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland 1840 to 1963
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John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland 1851 to 1972
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Gdańsk Shipyard the birthplace of Solidarity Movement – (still a working yard)
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Swan Hunter – (closed in April 2006 and sold to Bharati Shipyards, India's second largest private sector shipbuilder)
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Harland & Wolff – (still a working yard)
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Cammell Laird – (still a working repair yard)
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Blohm+Voss, where Bismarck was constructed (still a major yard)
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Havana, long the only dockyard in the Caribbean during the colonial period, the Santísima Trinidad, the largest warship of its time, was built there in 1769.
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Royal Naval Dockyards in the United Kingdom (including Woolwich, Deptford, Chatham Dockyard, Portsmouth and HMNB Devonport), Gibraltar, Bombay, Bermuda, Hong Kong and elsewhere worldwide
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Charlestown Navy Yard, later Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts 1800 to 1974
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Ulstein Verft, Norway, established in 1917 (still a working yard under the Ulstein Group)
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Navy Island, Ontario, Canada – French in the 18th century, then British 1763 to War of 1812
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Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Mare Island, California, 1854 to 1996
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New York Naval Shipyard (NYNSY), also known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the New York Navy Yard, and United States Navy Yard, New York 1801 to 1966
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Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 1799 to 1995, at two locations
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San Francisco Naval Shipyard, later Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, then Treasure Island Naval Station Hunters Point Annex, 1941 to 1994
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Long Beach Naval Shipyard, 1943 to 1997
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Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, located on Maine-New Hampshire border; Operational: 1800 to present, making it the oldest continuously operating shipyard of the US Navy.
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Chantiers de l'Atlantique (STX France) – established in 1861 (still a working yard)
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Nantes-Indret, France – Establish in 1771 it built ships for the American Revolution including the Deane.
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3. Maj – One of the largest shipyard in the Mediterranean, established in 1892 in Rijeka (still a working yard)
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SLKB Komarno (Komárno) – Slovak Shipyard Komárno – European shipyard on Danube, established in 1898
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Jean Street Shipyard 1843–present – The oldest continually operated shipyard in the U.S. Located on the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida.
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Gloucester Marine Railways 1859–present – Oldest working shipyard in New England. Located on Rocky Neck in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Prominent dockyards and shipyards
Africa
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Alexandria shipyard, the oldest shipyard in Africa founded in 1831 located in Alexandria, Egypt.
North America
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Davie Shipbuilding, (formerly Chantier Davie Canada Inc) in Lévis, Québec, is the oldest continually operating shipbuilder in North America.
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Newport News Shipbuilding, (formerly Northrop Grumman Newport News) is the largest private ship builder in the United States and the one best known for its unique capacity to build the s.
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Ingalls Shipbuilding, part of Huntington Ingalls Industries, located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, repaired the USS Cole and builds offshore drilling rigs, and naval vessels.
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National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) shipyard in San Diego, California, part of General Dynamics; is the primary shipbuilding location on the west coast of the United States.
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Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, is one of the largest shipyards in the world; specializing in repairing, overhauling and modernizing naval ships and submarines. It's the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the United States Navy
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Electric Boat Division (EBDiv) of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut, with an accessory facility in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, builder of many Naval over the past 100 years, with some types built only here.
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Bath Iron Works (BIW), subsidiary of General Dynamics, is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine.
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Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, is also owned by the U.S. Navy. It services ships and submarines from the West Coast.
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The Portland, Oregon, shipyard, operated by Cascade General Ship Repair (which is owned by Vigor Industrial)
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Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility is operated by the US Navy. It services surface ships and submarines from the Pacific region
South America
Europe
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Imperial Arsenal is in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded in 1454, it is still operated today under the name Haliç Shipyard.
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Riga Shipyard is in Riga, Latvia. Established in 1913 and revived after both world wars, it remains one of the largest shipyards in the Baltic region.
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Ferguson Shipbuilders is in Port Glasgow in inverclyde Scotland on the River Clyde. The Ferguson yard has been building ships for over a 110 years
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BAE Systems Surface Ships operates three shipbuilding yards in the United Kingdom; Portsmouth, England and Scotstoun and Govan on the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Major projects include the Type 45 destroyer and the s.
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BAE Systems Submarine Solutions operates a major shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, England. It is one of the few yards in the world capable of building nuclear submarines such as the Royal Navy's . Preceding companies such as Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering have constructed hundreds of surface ships and civilian vessels in Barrow since the late 19th century.
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Fincantieri – Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A.
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Lürssen (or Lürssen Werft) is a German shipbuilding company based in Bremen-Vegesack. Lürssen designs and constructs , and special vessels. Trading as Lürssen Yachts, it is one of the leading builders of custom .
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Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire
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Fayard – also known as Lindøværftet.
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Helsinki Shipyard
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Meyer Turku
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Rauma Marine Constructions
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The Meyer Werft is one of the major German shipyards, headquartered in Papenburg at the river Ems. Founded in 1795 and starting with small wooden vessels, today Meyer Werft is one of world's leading builders of luxury passenger ships. Altogether about 700 ships of different types have been built at the yard.
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Navantia: major public Spanish shipbuilding firm, which offers its services to both military and civil sector in three industrial areas: Cartagena / Cádiz / Ferrol (headquarters: Madrid) and with recent important projects as program and submarine program
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Construcciones Navales del Norte LaNaval, Sestao (Bilbao)
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Lisnave: repair facilities in Setúbal (Lisbon, Portugal)
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-Cartagena shipyard (Spain)]] HMNB Devonport, located in the city of Plymouth, England in the county of Devon is the largest naval base in Western Europe. It has 15 , of waterfront, 25 tidal berths, five basins and covers 650 acres (2.6 km2). It is the main refitting base for Royal Navy nuclear submarines and also handles work on frigates. It is the base for seven of the Trafalgar-class nuclear-powered hunter-killer submarines and many frigates, exploiting its convenient access to the Atlantic Ocean. It supports the Vanguard-class Trident missile nuclear ballistic missile submarines in a custom-built refitting dock. It houses , a nuclear-powered submarine used in the Falklands War and open to the general public.
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Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway in Kent, was established as a royal dockyard by Queen Elizabeth I in 1567. For 414 years, the Dockyard provided over 500 ships for the Royal Navy, and was forefront of shipbuilding, industrial and architectural technology. At its height, it employed over 10,000 skilled artisans and covered 400 acres (1.6 km2). The dockyard closed in 1984, and most of the Georgian era dockyard is now managed as a visitor attraction by the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust.
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Damen Group in Brest, France. It operates three Dry dock, up to .
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Sunderland, County Durham a town once hailed as the "Largest Shipbuilding Town in the World".
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Constanța Shipyard in Romania on the shores of the Black Sea Basin.
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Mangalia Shipyard again in Romania, south of the port of Constanța.
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Galați shipyard Galați is the largest naval shipyard on the Danube, given its strategic positioning inland but with access to the sea through either Sulina or Danube-Black Sea canal its output ranges from large tankers to research vessels, and small coast guard patrol boats. The yard is known for taking on specialty projects and under Damen has completed over such 250 vessels since 1999.
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The Black Sea Shipyard in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, is one of the largest shipyards in Europe, and is where all Soviet and Russian aircraft carriers were built.
East Asia
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Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation's Kobe Shipyard & Machinery Works in Japan builds oil tankers, LNG carriers, bulk carriers, container ships, Ro/Ro vessels, jetfoils and warships for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
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Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding's Tamano Works builds bulk carriers, ore carriers, crude oil tankers, oil product carriers, LNG carriers, LPG carriers, reefers, container ships, pure car carriers, cargo ships, patrol vessels, ocean surveillance ships, training vessels, fishery patrol boats and fishing boats
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Mitsubishi Heavy Industries's Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works primarily produces specialized commercial vessels, including LNG carriers, oil tankers and passenger cruise ships
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Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan Shipyard & Gunsan shipyard, in South Korea, is currently the largest in the world and has the capability to build a variety of vessels including Commercial Cargo, FPSO offshore, container ship, LNG Carrier, Car carriers, Tankers like VLCC & ULCC, Iron ore carrier and Naval vessels like Aegis destroyers & submarines.
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Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Samho shipyard near Mokpo 4th largest South Korean shipyard for VLCC Oil tankers, container ships & LNG, Offshore, Subsidiary of Hyundai heavy industries.
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CSBC Corporation, Taiwan, in Taiwan, is a private company that produces ships for civilian and military use. It was a state-owned enterprise of Taiwan (Republic of China) but transitioned to private ownership via an IPO in 2008. It is headquartered in Kaohsiung and shipyards in Kaohsiung and Keelung.
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Yantai Raffles Shipyard, in Yantai, China, is that country's largest offshore builder. It employs the 20,000 ton crane Taisun, the holder of the Heavy Lift World Record.
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Jiangnan Shipyard, in Shanghai, China, is a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation that produces both military and civilian ships. Its headquarters and main shipyard are based in Shanghai, with subsidiary shipyards in Shanghai and Chongqing.
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Bohai Shipyard, in Huludao, China, is a subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation that produces military (including nuclear powered vessels) and civilian ships.
South East Asia
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Keppel Shipyard (Singapore)
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Palindo Marine in Batam, Indonesia
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HHIC Phil in Subic Bay, Zambales, Philippines
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The Bangkok Dock Company
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Bason Shipyard, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is a long-standing builder that was established by the French government in April 1863 to repair warships and merchant vessels. Aside from its main function of building and repairing naval vessels, Bason also offers service to local and foreign customers from Southeast Asia and Europe.
South Asia and the Middle East
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FMC Dockyard is one of the largest shipyards in Bangladesh, located in Karnaphuli in Chittagong. The dockyard has its own forward and backward linkage. Syncrolift and side transfer system.
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Western Marine Shipyard, a leading shipyard in Bangladesh based in Chittagong. The shipyard has been exporting ships and vessels to a number of European, Asian and African countries.
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Khulna Shipyard is the oldest shipyard in Bangladesh, situated in Khulna. It mainly produces warships for Bangladesh Navy. Recently it also started to build commercial vessels like cargo ship, container, oil tanker for local buyers.
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Ananda Shipyard and Shipways, one of the largest shipyards in Bangladesh, located in Narayanganj. It is a 100% export oriented shipyard.
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Pipavav Shipyard in Gujarat, India, is the leading, modern and largest engineering facility in the business of ships and offshore platforms construction, repair and conversion, heavy engineering and offshore engineering in South Asia.
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Colombo Dockyard in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is the largest engineering facility in the business of ship repair, shipbuilding, heavy engineering and offshore engineering in Sri Lanka.
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Cochin Shipyard in Kochi, India, is the country's largest shipyard. It is building the .
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Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers is located in India. It is owned by the Government of India and is constructing the s for the Indian Navy.
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Hindustan Shipyard is a shipyard located in Visakhapatnam on the east coast of India.
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Hooghly Cochin Shipyard, formerly known as Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers Limited is a shipyard at Howrah, India.
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Karachi Shipyard and Naval Dockyard in Karachi, Pakistan, is that country's first and oldest yard. It constructs cargo ships, , support vessels, and warships.
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Mazagaon, operated by state-owned Mazagaon Dock Limited, is one of India's largest shipyards. It constructs a variety of ships both for the defence and civilian sector. The dockyard is known for constructing Britain's . Currently the shipyard is building three s and three s for the Indian Navy.
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Shalimar Works is a public sector shipbuilding company of West Bengal, India.
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The beach at Alang in the Indian state of Gujarat is the site of a large complex of shipbreaking yards. In 2010, the yard dismantled 357 ships; on average the yard processes 28–30 ships a month.
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The Jebel Ali and Dubai ports in the UAE are capable of handling, constructing and repairing large ships. They also provide dry dock facilities.
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The gate 7 of Shuwaikh port in the Kuwait has facility for repairing ships. They also provide dry dock facilities.
See also
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List of shipbuilders and shipyards
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Shipbuilding
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Shipyard transporter
Notes
External links
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Shipbuilding History – extensive collection of information about North American shipyards, including over 500 pages of US shipyard construction records
