Cuba inaugurates new floating dock for Panamax-size ship repairs

in the port of Havana, a modern floating dock to repair Panamax-type ships was inaugurated on Wednesday after being built and transferred from China to Cuba at a cost of 34 million US dollars. The floating structure was manufactured by the Chinese company National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC), located in Shanghai, and will be paid almost entirely through a bilateral credit agreement.

The island government will pay 85% of the dock thanks to a loan granted by Beijing to Havana for a period of 15 years, according to Cuban media. Authorities of the Casablanca Shipyard in Havana indicated that the new acquisition is "strategic" for the Cuban fleet and to return the country to the naval repair market in the Caribbean. The dock is 240 meters long and counts several cranes with 22,000 tons of lifting capacity.