Greece as the most important shipping nation in the region is suffering from not being competitive in the ship repair business. COSCO, which has bought a major stake in the port of Piraeus in the recent Greek crisis, is about to develop the port into a ship repair hub for the Eastern Mediterranean. The Piraeus Port Authority has received the new “PIRAEUS III” floating dock of 22,000 tons lifting capacity, which can serve ships up to 240 m length, 35 m width and 80,000 dwt. The new dock is expanding the existing infrastructure, aiming at attracting more ships to the ship repair zone of Perama from the wider region of the Mediterranean. Within the region Turkish yards are taking most of the repair business. The country's shipyard industry which consists out of modern quality-certified shipyards able of carrying out extensive repair and conversion works is highly concentrated in the Sea of Marmara, particularly in the eastern part around Tuzla and Yalova. There are currently more than 70 shipyards under operation with 600 Million USD per year as average income from repair and maintenance. Important players in the Black Sea for ship repairs are Damen Shipyards Mangalia and Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries. They are making use of the lower wage level in the Black Sea. On the southern side of the Eastern Mediterranean Egyptian Ship Repairs & Building in Alexandria, Egypt, is offering floating dock facility with lifting capacity of 9,000 tons and 167 m length and 26.8 m beam.
