Floating dry dock to arrive offshore

A ship carrying a giant concrete-and-steel cradle built to hold ships out of the water so they can be worked on will be an unusual nautical sight to see off Honolulu International Airport today.

Local shipyard Marisco Ltd. said the ship and its cargo — a dry dock 454 feet long and 150 feet wide — are expected to arrive today.

Bringing the dry dock to Hawaii from Indonesia, where it was built, will be the White Marlin, a 712-foot-long ship carrying the dry dock on its low-slung and submersible deck.

Marisco said the White Marlin will be anchored off the airport for a couple of days before the dry dock is transported to Kalaeloa Harbor on or about Thursday.

The floating dry dock will be the largest in Hawaii under private ownership and will allow the owners of some large vessels to do maintenance and repair work locally instead of sending vessels to the mainland, according to John Stewart, Marisco’s vice president of operations. Larger dry docks exist at Pearl Harbor.

Marisco expects the new dry dock, named Paleke Nui, will generate additional business requiring 40 more workers.