SECREN

SECREN, the Societe d'Etudes de Constructions et Reparations Navales, repairs and builds ships at Antsiranana, formerly Diego Suarez, on the northern tip of Madagascar. It is the successor to the French naval arsenal at Diego Suarez, and its graving dock was built between 1905 and 1916. A caisson gate divides the dock into two independent basins, so that two vessels can be worked at the same time. The published envelope is repair of ships up to 185 metres in length and construction of vessels up to 65 metres. Two rail-mounted cranes of 18 tonnes each serve the dock, and the site runs its own power station of about 2 MW. Repair work centres on tuna boats, trawlers, tugs and cargo ships. Figures published in 2012 give a site of about 400,000 square metres, some 850 employees and roughly 100 vessels a year, with about 60 welders then certified by Bureau Veritas to NF EN 287-1 and non-destructive testing staff to COFREND level 2.