“We foresee that the activity at our facilities for 2022 will stay at the level it was in 2021, which was a good year,” the CEO of Astican & Astander Shipyards, German Carlos Suarez said, according to the 2022 Drydocking and Refurbishment Report by Cruise Industry News.

In 2021, Astican drydocked the National Geographic Explorer and carried out a “remarkable life extension project” on the hospital ship Africa Mercy. On top of these, Suarez said that the Astander shipyard was involved in the completion of the Evrima for The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection.

Astican also drydocked some ships for Cruise Management International (CMI), performing extensive upgrade and maintenance work and taking long-term care of four to five vessels from the CMI fleet before they resume sailing.

According to Suarez, Astican is seeing continued demand for the installation of ballast water treatment systems.

“Not only in cruise ships but in most vessels,” he clarified. “We have partnership agreements with the main manufacturers. Using the most advanced technology ensures the work performed is of the highest quality and the stops at our yards are as short as possible.”

Asked how far out cruise lines book Astican & Astander’s drydock facilities, he said that it depends on the company.

“Our flexibility due to our drydocking system allows for bookings to not be firm – something that is required by other facilities. We adapt ourselves quite easily, and that is an advantage for customers,” Suarez explained.

“The trend is no doubt ‘volatile’ now. There is much work to be done, but the high costs of freight make it difficult to plan ahead. But shipyards like ours – which are prepared to attend to large projects that can show up suddenly – see good opportunities for 2022,” he added.