A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners 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.
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, dry docks, slipways, 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.
Lothal engineers accorded high priority to the creation of a dockyard and a warehouse to serve the purposes of maritime trade.[4] The dock was built on the eastern flank of the town, and is regarded by archaeologists as an engineering feat of the highest order. It was located away from the main current of the river to avoid silting, but provided access to ships at high tide as well.
The name of the ancient Greek city on the Gulf of Corinth, Naupactus, means "shipyard" (combination of the Greek 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[5]
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.
Blohm+Voss, where Bismarck was constructed (still a major yard)
Havana, long the only dockyard in the Caribbean during the colonial period, the Santísima Trinidad, largest warship of its time, was built there in 1769.
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
The Portland, Oregon, shipyard, operated by Cascade General Ship Repair (which is owned by Vigor Industrial)[8] is the largest such facility on the United States West Coast.
Fincantieri – Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A.[9] is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. It was formed in 1959 and is the largest shipbuilder in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. The company has built both commercial and military vessels during its history.
The Meyer Werft GmbH 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.
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 F100-class frigate program and S-80-class submarine program
Construcciones Navales del Norte LaNaval, Sestao (Bilbao)
Navantia-Cartagena shipyard (Spain)Devonport Dockyard, located in the city of Plymouth, England in the county of Devon is the largest naval base in Western Europe. It has 15 dry docks, four miles (6.4 km) 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-classTrident missile nuclear ballistic missile submarines in a custom-built refitting dock. It houses HMS Courageous, a nuclear-powered submarine used in the Falklands War and open to the general public.[10] Facilities in the local area also include a major naval training establishment and a base for the Royal Marines.
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 dockyard is now managed as a visitor attraction by the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust.
Sunderland, County Durham a town once hailed as the "Largest Shipbuilding Town in the World".[11] ships were built at the Sunderland Docks from at least 1346[12] and by the mid-18th century Sunderland was one of the chief shipbuilding towns in the country.
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, yachts 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.
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.
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
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries's Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works primarily produces specialized commercial vessels, including LNG carriers, oil tankers and passenger cruise ships
Hyundai Heavy IndustriesUlsan 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.
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.
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.[13] Yantai Raffles' portfolio includes offshore platforms, pipe lay and other specialized vessels.
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.
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.[15]
Cranes in Cochin Shipyard (India).Dhaka ShipyardDhaka Shipyard – welding propellers
FMC Dockyard is one of the largest shipyard of Bangladesh, located in Eastern Bank of the Karnaphuli river in Chittagong. The dockyard has its own forward and backward linkage. 106-by-26-metre (348 ft × 85 ft) Syncrolift and side transfer system.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.[16]
The Jebel Ali and Dubai ports in the UAE are capable of handling, constructing and repairing large ships. They also provide dry dock facilities.[17]
The gate 7 of Shuwaikh port in the Kuwait has facility for repairing ships. They also provide dry dock facilities.[18]
^Leshnik, Lawrence S.; Junghans, K. H. (October 1968). "The Harappan 'Port' at Lothal: Another View". American Anthropologist. 70 (5): 911–922. doi:10.1525/aa.1968.70.5.02a00070. Retrieved 22 May 2024. The settlement in general and the basin in particular do not, in the author's view, appear to meet the requirements of a port. As an alternative, he suggests that the basin could have served as an irrigation tank for a moderately-sized but still rural village.
^ ab"Archaeological remains of a Harappa Port-Town, Lothal". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 10 February 2022. In close proximity to the enclosure identified as a warehouse, along the eastern side where a wharf-like platform, is a basin measuring 217 m long and 26 meters in width, identified as a tidal dock-yard.
^"This is Modi govt's plan for India's first National Maritime Museum in Gujarat's Lothal". 9 March 2020. Archaeological excavations discovered the oldest man-made dockyard – over 5,000 years old – in Lothal, located near the village of Saragwala in the Dholka Taluka of Ahmedabad district. [...] It was one of the southernmost cities, and the only port town, in the Indus Valley civilisation. [...] While the city has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site by the Indian government, its application is pending on the United Nation's tentative list. [...] According to UNESCO, stone anchors, marine shells and seals possibly belonging to the Persian Gulf corroborate the use of the basin as a dockyard where boats would have sailed upstream from the Gulf of Cambay during high tide.
^Müller, Karl Otfried, ed. (2010) [1841]. "Ephori fragmenta". Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 236. ISBN9781108016605. Retrieved 23 May 2024. Naupactus, ... sic dicta quod Heraclidae ibi classem compegerint, auctoribus Ephoro et Strabone.
^"Quarterly Review". Quarterly Review (100–118). Anglo-Spanish Society: 43. 1977. Retrieved 23 June 2023. It is probable that at least a quarter of the ships of the Great Armada sent against England were built at Algeciras or Malaga.
Shipbuilding History – extensive collection of information about North American shipyards, including over 500 pages of US shipyard construction records
