As a wholly Namibian-owned entity with its shareholding held entirely by Namport, and the EBH Consortium — a group comprising prominent Namibian business leaders — Namdock is a recognised leader in the West African ship repair market and offshore oil and gas sector. Favourably located in the natural harbour of Walvis Bay, Namibia, on the west coast of Africa, Namdock is perfectly positioned to become the preferred marine repair partner in the region, and internationally.
To this end, Namdock aims to build on its regional and international expertise and experience, illustrating its diverse capabilities, along with its solid track record of customer service excellence.
Namdock’s Acting CEO Heritha Nankole Muyoba, points out that Namibia is recognised for its stable and ethical political landscape, enjoying a supportive, business-friendly environment, which is reflected in Namdock’s values, namely those of trust, excellence and integrity, ensuring only the highest quality standards and protocols are followed.
Namdock has highly skilled and qualified professionals who can compete on an international level, with experience in an extensive variety of disciplines: from rigging, piping and coating to fabrication, carpentry, electrical and propulsion, she points out.
While the company retains its status as a leader in the West African ship repair arena, in addition, through its up-to-date, fully-equipped facilities and expertise, Namdock serves many local and international shipping, oil and gas, mining and engineering clients.
“While its floating docks and ship repair amenities form a significant part of Namdock’s revenue, we are also diversifying our focus to include land-based industries such as the West African mining industries and general engineering, as the company is ideally positioned geographically to further enhance its effectiveness by fabricating locally and shipping products to North and West Africa. In these sectors, we are therefore developing a growing reputation in the engineering and fabrication sectors, with our high-tech, state-of-the-art facilities and highly skilled welding teams,” Namdock Marketing Manager, Quintin Simon points out.
“As Namibia’s largest engineering company, with significant expertise in heavy engineering, we can also do fabrication of oil and gas sub-sea structures; as well as mining structures for local and international clients at our Walvis Bay facilities,” he says, adding that Namdock is exceptionally proud of its dockside facilities.
These world-class facilities include three floating dry docks: Namdock 1, with a lifting capacity of 8,000 tons; Namdock 2 with a lifting capacity of 6,500 tons and the Panamax-sized Namdock 3 with the lifting capacity of 15,000 tons.
“We also have fully-equipped workshops for undertaking a wide range of marine repair, engineering and maintenance projects; and, because Namdock is closely aligned to Namport – which oversees the port of Walvis Bay – we have access to Namport’s synchrolift and quayside berthing services. These can accommodate vessels up to 2 000 tons, with a displacement of 80m in length and 12m in width overall,” Simon explains.
The synchro lift area has four 80m repair quays of 8m draft, used for alongside-pier repairs and maintenance, he adds.
“As a country, Namibia is intensely focused on driving commercial self-sufficiency and development, and Namdock embodies this spirit of independence and agility in our ability to procure spares quickly and efficiently, reducing turnaround times from the average month or so for a major component, to having similar components on the dockside within three to four days,” Simon explains.
“In fact, overall, Namdock has reduced the average turnaround time for ship repairs from 16 days to a tremendously impressive 12-day average,” he comments.
“Through engaging in smart partnerships, we pride ourselves in offering a unique and superior, customer experience,” adds Nankole-Muyoba.
“We aim to be the best when it comes to facilities, to also to have the best processes, premium management practices and the finest digital integration. While our quick turnaround times also stand us in excellent stead, Namdock is driven by the ISO 9004 standard and we are also looking at improving our sufficiency by integrating several systems, exploring new technologies, enhancing our training and development and upskilling our most important resource, our people,” she says.
This concern for the people overflows into the company’s corporate social responsibility and Nankole Muyoba, adds, “As employers of a large and long-serving local workforce, we are tremendously concerned by the effects and consequences of the pandemic on the local community.”
She points out that before the initial start of the Covid-19 nationwide lockdown in 2020, Namdock introduced company-wide influenza vaccinations, and distributed sanitisation packs to the workforce.
“Prior to the resumption of full operations, the company provided wide-ranging training on the prevention of Covid-19 infection transmission; and, subsequently, we have also established a two-shift process to further observe social and physical distancing regulations,” she advises.
“We are indeed extremely quality and safety-focused,” Simon assures, and points out that Namdock’s facilities are operated by a highly skilled workforce which is trained to international standards, with employee, contractor and client safety top-of-mind.
“Even during a pandemic — while following stringent sanitisation protocols — because of our excellent geographical location, outstanding facilities, skills and extensive expertise, work and operations have continued safely,” he says.
“We are able to fabricate and ship large, complex structures to site anywhere along the West African coast, and commission them into successful operation,” he notes and describes how Namdock recently handled a project for Oceaneering — a company involved in oilfield, aerospace, material handling, defence, renewable energy, and research applications, among others.
“The project involved approximately 120 tonnes of sub-sea structure that was shipped to Angola, safely and efficient, during height of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he says, explaining that this was only possible through Namdock’s world-class project management capabilities, along with the most advanced and certified fabrication expertise.
Simon emphasises that Namdock’s service offering is customer-centric, with processes and procedures which are aligned with the best international standards and measures, all geared to enhance the client experience.
“We do not want to be the best in West Africa: we want to compete internationally, and be the best in the world!” he states.
“It is our vast pool of loyal, repeat clients which keeps Namdock afloat – for which we are immensely grateful – and it is our inimitable customer service and people focus that keeps them coming back,” he concludes.
