• Canary Islands and Norway seek to consolidate and deepen their relations

    On February 6th, the President of the Government of the Canary Islands Fernando Clavijo and the Minister of Economy, Industry, Trade and Knowledge, Pedro Ortega, held a working meeting with the Norwegian ambassador to Spain, Helge Skaara, to analyse the commercial, economic and social ties between the Canary archipelago and the Nordic country.

    It should be noted that Norway and the Canary Islands maintain a historical relationship in different areas, where the tourism was the forerunner of this relationship. Today, the Norwegian tourist sector in the Canary Islands registers about 400,000 tourists a year (10% of the country’s population), which is reinforced by the existence of direct flights between the two destinations. Also, the Canary Islands has a Norwegian community resident in the islands of about 3,000 Norwegian citizens who mainly live in the south of Gran Canaria.

    The commercial and economic relations between the Canary Islands and Norway are being fruitful, as Norwegian companies consider the Canary Islands as a business platform for West Africa for specific sectors and, on the other hand, an enormous potential in sectors such as tourism, energy Renewable and blue economy. Currently there are 16 Norwegian companies from different sectors and many of them operate under the Special Zone of the Canary Islands regime (ZEC) that offers important tax advantages for these companies.

    In the specific case of Norwegian companies operating in the offshore and oil and gas sectors, both the public administrations of the Canary Islands and the private sector for naval repair and auxiliary services for the extractive industry have joined forces to make the islands, and in particular, the Port of Las Palmas, stand as a strategic hub. This, together with the geographical proximity with the Gulf of Guinea, has aroused the interest of the Norwegian private sector specialized in the provision of technical assistance to this industry.

    This interest has materialized in the implementation of some Norwegian companies that seek alliances with the Canary Islands private sector to generate integration in the local business sector, synergies and mutual benefit. The alliance between Zamakona Yards and the prestigious Norwegian company Coast Center Base (CCB) is a clear example of these alliances. The resulting company CCB ZAMAKONA OFFSHORE SL will invest jointly 20 million euros for the development of a repair centre for oil platforms with a total area that occupies 6,000 square meters in the Port of Las Palmas where the first phase is already executed with the construction of the building that houses the main workshop, offices and storage areas.

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  • REPNAVAL starts the New Year with a full house!

    REPNAVAL, the shipyard, belonging to our group, Zamakona Yards in Las Palmas De Gran Canaria, has started the New Year in the best way possible, with a near capacity occupancy. What better way to start the year than with marvelous weather of 24ºC and multiple projects in our shipyard.

    We would like to thank our loyal customers for once again entrusting their vessels to us to repair and put into condition to return to sea again.

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  • International Women’s Day (March 8th) – Interview with Davinia

    “Revenge is a pleasure that lasts only one day; generosity is a feeling that can make you happy forever” – Rosa Luxemburg

     

    Name: Davinia Molina Rodríguez – Age: 27 years – Job Training: Master in Supervision and Management of ship machines and installations; office certificates, electronics for MTU engines, equipment ” VISATRON ” ; industrial cooling systems, fire fighting systems , rescue and health , prevention of occupational hazards; others. – Years in Zamakona: 7 years.

     

    ¿What is the International Women’s Day?

    International Women’s Day (March 8th) is celebrated each year in many countries around the world. It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. It is an occasion for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments, and more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women.

     

    In 1975, during International Women’s Year, the United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March. Two years later, in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions. In adopting its resolution, the General Assembly recognized the role of women in peace efforts and development and urged an end to discrimination and an increase of support for women’s full and equal participation.

     

    International Women’s Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe.

     

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  • Modernization and improvement at Zamakona Yards Canary Islands

    As part of our program to improve our services for OUR CUSTOMERS, we are proud to inform you that work has commenced at ours shipyard at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Repnaval (Zamakona Yards), increasing the capacity and tonnage or our slipways.

     

    Specifically, we are preparing our slipway Nº 4 to receive vessels of 120 meters length and 20 meters breadth with lightweight tonnages of 5500 Tons for flat bottomed vessels and 4500 Tons for keeled vessels. The work is expected to be completed in January of 2014.

     

    You can see an infographic showing the details of the Project. We are confident that with this investment Repnaval will continue to be the shipyard of reference in the port of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, expanding our capacity to offer quality services for the maintenance and repair of your vessels and those of other ship owners and operators.

     

     
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  • ICHCA visited Zamakona Yards

    Last week, we had the pleasure of having a delegation from the Sección Regional Canarias-África de la ICHCA visiting our facilities in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. The delegation was composed by:

    • President of Sección Regional Canarias África de la ICHCA: Mr. CheikKanté (President of the Dakar Port).
    • Vice President of the Sección Regional Canarias África de la ICHCA: Mr. MENSAH Abraham (Director of Human Resources of the Port authorities of Ghana)
    • Secretary General of the Sección Regional Canarias África de la ICHCA: Mr. Sergio Galván (Managing director of Fundación Puertos de Las Palmas)
    • Vice-Secretariy General of the Sección Regional Canarias África de la ICHCA: Mr. HOUNSOUNOU Luc (Representative of the Fundación Puertos de Las Palmas in Benin)
    • Deputy Relations Manager with Africa FPLP.- Ana Perez Peñalvo
    • Mrs. Angele BIAOU- Director for External Affairs and International Relations and cooperating with the autonomous port of Cotonu.
    • Mr. Eduardo Evora Lima .- Director for External Affairs and International Relations and cooperating with the ENAPORT (Cabo Verde).
    • Mr. El FILALI .- Director for External Affairs and International Relations and cooperating with the National Agency of Ports in Morocco.
    • Mr. Momar N Gary BA .- Sales Director of the Autonomous port of Dakar
    • Mr Mama Lamaré .-Responsible of International projects to the Shippers ´Council of Cameroon.
    • Mr Ali Traore.- Managing Director of the Shippers’ Council of Burkina Faso.
    • Mr Mohamed ElhasseneOuld Mohamed Saad.- Managing Director the Autonomous Port of Nouakchott
    • Mr Taleb Ahmed OuldTaghy.- Technical Advisor to the Deputy Director of the Autonomous Port of Nouakchott

    The visit formed part of the conference day sheld in Las Palmas for this executive committee. The members of the delegation were pleasantly surprised with our facilities and with the background and experience of our companies working with the African continent, where we often send technicians to undertake repairs of vessels operating in the area.

     

    We want to thank you for your visit and we are positive that it will contribute to closer ties between Zamakona Yards and the countries represented by the executive committee.

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  • Wilbert Tide in our shipyard in Canary Islands

    We just finished the works on the vessel WILBERT TIDE. The vessel has been in our shipyard Repnaval during 3 weeks.

     

    The Anchor Handling Towing Supply Vessel (AHTS) WILBERT TIDE with IMO number 9268435 is the fifth vessel of TideWater in our slipways in Canary Islands. Tidewater created the “work boat” industry with its 1956 launch of the Ebb Tide, the world’s first offshore vessel tailor-made to support the offshore oil and gas industry. (more…)

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  • TIDEWATER DRYDOCK IN ZAMAKONA YARDS CANARY ISLANDS

    Last August 16th, the vessel DE VRIES TIDE arrived to our shipyard in Las Palmas. This is the third vessel of Tidewater that we repair in our shipyard in Canary Islands. 

     

    Tidewater is the leading provider of larger Offshore Service Vessels to the global energy industry. With its large, new vessel fleet, a global footprint, leading safety performance, and over 50 years of experience providing marine support services, they’re serving customers who are operating in more remote, deeper and increasingly hostile environments in order to meet the world’s energy demands.

     

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  • LAS PALMAS PORT: READY FOR THE FUTURE

    History of Las Palmas Port

     

    Since ancient times the Bay of La Isleta, on the north-east coast of Gran Canaria, had been used by Phoenician and Roman ships as a safe anchorage; but it was not until 1478, the foundation year of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, that regular port activities were to be seen in this harbour. 

     

    As soon as Spain extended its rule over the Canary Islands, Las Palmas became the main support base for maritime expeditions across the oceans. The famous navigator, Christopher Columbus, used the islands as a base for shiprepairs and as his last stop in Europe before sailing to the New World.  (more…)

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