Marcap has been operating LCTs since 2000. Invictus and Veneris are the newest vessels in the fleet — both built to a Marcap concept, developed together with the Chinese shipyard that constructed them. At 65 metres they carry up to 1,900 T, meet oil and gas specifications, and have supply boat transfer capability.
Invictus arrived from China without much of an adventure. Her sister ship Veneris had quite a journey — one that made us all sweat. It took her four months longer to reach home, and not because of anything wrong with the vessel.
Her keel was laid in August 2025. Construction finished in December 2025. Sea trials and handover followed in January 2026. Then she sailed straight into a closed strait.
WHAT SHE WAS BUILT TO DO
Veneris was built for a specific gap: oil and gas, EPC and artificial island projects all need vessels that carry enormous payloads without a matching jump in fuel burn.
Sixty-five metres long, sixteen metres in the beam, drawing 2.80 metres by design. Around 570 square metres of clear deck rated to 6 tonnes per square metre. Where many standard LCTs of this size offer around 1,300 tonnes deadweight, she delivers 1,900 at maximum draft — on the fuel profile of a smaller ship. Twin Yanmar main engines of 749 kW each, Cummins auxiliaries, a 340 kW bow thruster, thirty days of endurance, and cooling and air-conditioning systems reworked for ambient temperatures up to 55°C.
She is also a comfortable vessel to live on: 22 berths, never more than two to a cabin, a hospital, a client’s office and a recreation room. When we build, we build not only for the job but for the people who do it. We are Home on Water, and we carry that through every vessel we put in the water.
“We are not here to compete with mass operators. We operate like a boutique house. Our goal is to provide the market with something special — highly efficient and purpose-built.” — Abdallah Chehab, Operations Director
THE ONE THING THAT SETS HER APART FROM HER SISTER
Same drawings, same main engines, same auxiliaries, almost the same deadweight. Even identical vessels built to identical drawings come out slightly different — steel plate thickness varies, welding varies, and the tonnage follows.
But one difference was built in from the start, and it is the reason she can work anywhere in the world.
The ballast water treatment plant. When a vessel loads ballast in one port and discharges it in another, she carries that first environment with her — organisms, larvae, shells that were never meant to live there. The IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention, in force since 2017, exists to stop exactly that. A vessel working within a single area, taking on and releasing ballast in the same waters, can hold an exemption. Veneris does not need one. She is compliant everywhere.
That capability was a deliberate expense. The system is not a small line item — and fitting it during construction costs a fraction of retrofitting it later, where the piping alone turns the job expensive.
THE CROSSING
Veneris departed China in February 2026, bound for Abu Dhabi, on schedule for a mid-March arrival.
She was already at sea when the Strait of Hormuz closed.
The first instruction was to slow down. A vessel can slow down — but not indefinitely, and not forever. What followed was three months at anchor: Fujairah, then Khor Fakkan, then Fujairah again, then Omani waters as the situation extended. Thirteen people on board, ready to sail, unable to. Finding somewhere safe to hold her, week after week, became a job in itself.
We were charting unknown waters. There was no template for it, and no way to forecast the next week. In thirty years of deliveries — South America, Mozambique, Malaysia, the UK and many more — we had never seen anything like it.
But through all of it, the UAE held steady. Fujairah and Khor Fakkan stayed open, safe and fully serviced, and a vessel with nowhere else to go could sit at anchor for three months and still be supplied, crewed and looked after. That is not a small thing when the situation ahead is ambiguous and every forecast is a guess. It is the direct result of the wise leadership of this country, which has all the resources it needs to protect the businesses operating under its flag.
“The biggest concern for us was the safety of our crew — their wellbeing and their morale. The second was the safety of the vessel.” — Samer Qiblawi, President & CEO
At the end of June, the door opened for a short while. Our insurers confirmed the vessel could transit under specific conditions and an additional war-risk premium. We took the decision inside 24 hours, with the full cost on the table and a clear view of the risk.
Veneris departed for the strait in the first week of July. Twelve hours of transit. She reached Abu Dhabi safely.
THE CREW AND ONSHORE TEAM WHO COMPLETED THE MISSION
Kudos to our crew first. Bringing a flat-bottomed landing craft across an ocean is the hard part of this job, and they had already proved they could do it. Then they were asked to do something nobody trains for: three months at anchor, alert, disciplined and patient, with the invisible finish line.
They kept the vessel ready. When the window opened, she moved the same day.
Marcap thanks every crew member aboard Veneris for their professionalism and their patience.
A vessel at anchor for three months is never alone. Every day of that wait was worked from our headquarters in Abu Dhabi — operations tracking her hour by hour, technical keeping her fully ready, HSEQ holding the standard, procurement and crewing arranging reliefs, provisions and welfare, and commercial working the insurance market until the crossing became possible.
WOULD WE DO IT AGAIN?
We asked the Operations Director whether, knowing everything that followed, Marcap would still have built her.
“Yes, Veneris was worth it. She is a capable and beautiful addition to our fleet. There are hiccups here and there. That is what growth looks like.” — A. Chehab
Veneris is now alongside in Abu Dhabi, inspections underway, ready for deployment — 1,900 tonnes of payload, 570 square metres of deck and thirty days of endurance, suited to oil and gas, EPC contractors, island construction projects and heavy equipment logistics anywhere in the world.
“We love challenges. This is who we are at our core, and I am proud of our team — they always manage.” — Samer Qiblawi
Marcap was born here, in Abu Dhabi. In 1980 our founder crossed the water by boat every morning to reach the office. Forty-six years later, a vessel under the UAE flag made that same crossing home. She took the long way. She got home safely.