Dutch marine engineering company ECTMarine has handed over a purpose-built workboat to Arab Potash Company (APC) in Jordan, following successful site acceptance testing (SAT).
The SAT of the Custom Workboat 104 was completed last week on APC's brine evaporation ponds at the Dead Sea. APC was represented on site by its main contractor, Alghanem.
Designed and built in the Netherlands, the workboat was tailored to the conditions at the Dead Sea, where the dense, highly saline brine and the site’s location around 400 meters below sea level posed specific challenges.
The Custom Workboat 104 features a forward wheelhouse, an open working deck and a knuckle-boom deck crane. ECTMarine designed the vessel around APC’s operational requirements, with a hull and deck layout suitable for road transport on a standard flat rack.
The vessel completed its factory acceptance test (FAT) in the Netherlands in summer 2026. After that, the workboat was shipped to Jordan on a flat rack and trucked along the dykes of APC's evaporation ponds to the launch point. There, a mobile crane with a double spreader-bar rig lifted it from the trailer into the brine.
ECTMarine, Alghanem and APC jointly conducted the SAT, testing the vessel’s propulsion, deck crane and onboard systems under operating conditions. Following successful completion of the tests, the workboat is ready to enter service.