The most important connection that Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) has had with Asia to date is the Falaj 3 offshore patrol vessel (OPV) project for the UAE Navy, conducted with help from ST Engineering of Singapore. However, from this small base, the Emirati shipbuilder is seeking to dramatically expand its footprint and sales in the Asian region.
ADSB, part of Edge Group, was exhibiting at IMDEX 2025, held from 6-8 May, in a booth alongside ST Engineering. ADSB had subcontracted ST Engineering for the Falaj 3’s basic, detailed and production design, plus ongoing technical support for the construction of four vessels. The first-of-class Falaj 3 was unveiled and commissioned at NAVDEX in February.
In July, ADSB will celebrate its 30th anniversary, and the company has developed rapidly in that time. David Massey, CEO of ADSB, told Naval News, “We are profitable, which is unusual for a shipbuilder. Last year we made US$23 million, and we’ve doubled our profits every year for the last three years.”
In addition, the shipbuilder’s revenue has risen sixfold in the past five years, with Massey predicting it “will continue to rise, but not at quite the same exponential rate”.
ADSB’s other involvement with an Asian shipbuilder has been through PT PAL of Indonesia. The latter is constructing a 163m-long landing platform dock for the UAE Navy, and ADSB is supplying items like associated landing craft and some other components.
Indeed, Massey hinted that this archipelagic nation would be the next Asian scene of success for ADSB. “In terms of Asia, I’m hopeful that we will announce something in Indonesia in the future for patrol boats.”
Instead of competing for high-tech programmes such as frigates, Massey’s philosophy is to target platforms such as OPVs.
It was this desire to tap the OPV market that drove ADSB to design and build its FA-400 OPV, which was displayed at NAVDEX 2025. “Five years ago, we didn’t own any IP [intellectual property] in our own products” in terms of ship designs, Massey said, but now it is deliberately expanding its portfolio.
Interestingly, the FA-400 was designed and built on-spec in less than a year without a customer order, but Massey predicted, “We are confident that we will sell it and many more like it.”
“And the reason for that product range being developed is that everyone has the same five problems, which are piracy, insurgency, people smuggling, drug smuggling, illegal fishing. They don’t all have exactly the same priorities, but they have the same five problems. None of those missions require particularly sophisticated investments,” such as sophisticated 3D radars and surface-to-air missiles.
With such prevalent threats, at any one time around the world, there are numerous requirements for OPVs. “So what you need is patrol boats…you need OPVs. That’s where all of the growth in the market, in our opinion, is going to be.”
“Okay, it’s a crowded market,” Massey admitted, “but what ADSB does have going forward is a very high degree of political support, financing support, which has been evident in the last deals that Edge has done. The vast majority of large defence export sales are financed, and Edge has access the UAE government.”
Massey also acknowledged that, up till about five years ago, ADSB had “no real ambitions outside” the Gulf region, but that has changed. “It takes a long time to develop markets, but we’re starting to get some traction now,” the CEO said. Indeed, “Ten years ago, no one in Asia would have known or cared, but now we are regarded as a credible player.”
Massey said that ADSB is very happy to transfer technology and work with local Asian customers and shipbuilders, “because that’s the position the UAE was in a generation ago”. “So we’re now very happy to do exactly that, and we have a number of deals which are cooking nicely, where we’re doing exactly that. We’re partnering with people to either build or refurbish or bring expertise to their local shipbuilding capability, and we are more than happy to build locally.”
Operating from a 330,000m² facility in Abu Dhabi, ADSB has built more than 250 vessels to date. Another important project currently on the go is a class of three 71m-long BR 71 MkII corvettes for Angola, plus the yard is refurbishing 21 Kuwaiti Coast Guard boats.
Massey said, “So in terms of the order book, it’s currently very healthy; we have an order book of about US$2 billion.”
