Marine Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Service at Every UAE Port
Chillex repairs, overhauls, converts and maintains HVAC-R systems on vessels and offshore assets
across the UAE — air conditioning plants, provision plants, reefer and cargo cooling, and marine
compressors. Attendance alongside, at anchorage, or in yard, scheduled around your sailing date.
- anchorAll UAE ports — Jebel Ali, Port Rashid, Hamriyah, Khor Fakkan, Port Khalid, Fujairah, Khalifa Port, Mina Zayed and anchorages
- autorenewRefrigerant conversion specialists — R12 and R22 to R134a, R407c, R404a and R417a, with documentation for your ODS Record Book
- schedule24/7 mobilisation — we plan around your ETA and ETD, not our office hours
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Where We Attend
West coast — Arabian Gulf
Jebel Ali · Port Rashid · Dubai Maritime City · Dubai Creek · Port Khalid (Sharjah) · Hamriyah · Ajman · Umm Al Quwain · Mina Saqr · Khalifa Port · Mina Zayed · Musaffah
East coast — Gulf of Oman
Port of Fujairah · Fujairah Anchorage · Khor Fakkan
Around 12,000 vessels call at Fujairah each year and the anchorage holds up to 174 vessels at a time.
Offshore
Offshore support vessels, rigs, platforms and onshore marine facilities in UAE waters.
Attendance types
- Alongside — berth attendance
- At anchorage — where arrangements allow
- In yard / drydock — extended scopes and conversions
Systems We Work On
Air conditioning plants
- Accommodation AC — DX and chilled water
- Self-contained and split units
- Fan coil units and air handling units
- ECR and cargo control room cooling
- Ventilation, filtration and pressurisation
Provision refrigeration
- Provision plants — chilled and frozen rooms
- Vegetable, meat, fish and dairy rooms
- Compressors and condensing units
- Evaporators, defrost and drainage
- Controls, thermostats and alarms
Cargo & reefer
- Refrigerated cargo hold plant
- Brine and glycol systems
- Cargo temperature control and logging
Compressors
- Open-drive, semi-hermetic and screw
- Overhaul, rebuild and reconditioning
- Valve, bearing, shaft seal and gasket renewal
- Seawater condenser cleaning and tube work
- Pumps, motors and starters
R12 & R22 Conversion — Done Properly, Documented Properly
The regulatory position
Under MARPOL Annex VI, Regulation 12, installation of equipment containing ozone-depleting substances — including R22 — is prohibited on ships constructed on or after 1 January 2020. Every vessel must maintain a list of equipment containing ODS and an ODS Record Book, recording each servicing, maintenance, repair or disposal action affecting that equipment.
If your vessel is still operating on R22, you're carrying a compliance exposure, a documentation obligation, and a conversion cost that gets no cheaper by waiting.
We are one of a limited number of companies in the UAE with the knowledge and experienced staff to carry out these conversions across marine, offshore, oil and gas, industrial and commercial assets.
A conversion done properly covers
- System assessment — condition, capacity, component compatibility
- Oil compatibility — mineral to POE/alkylbenzene changeover and flushing
- Component changes — expansion devices, seals, gaskets, driers
- Recovery and lawful disposal of the existing charge
- Recharge, leak test and pressure test
- Performance verification against the duty, not just "it runs"
- Documentation for your ODS Record Book, class file and PSC inspection
Why the detail matters. A conversion done as a drop-in gas swap will run — for a while. Then it loses capacity, the oil doesn't return, the compressor starves and you have a failure in a place where failures are expensive. The engineering around the gas change is the job. The gas change is the easy part.
What We Get Called For
Seawater condenser fouling
The defining marine failure. Biofouling, slime, marine growth and salt deposition build on the seawater side, particularly in warm tropical waters — and Gulf waters are as warm as they get. A fouled condenser raises high-side pressure, trips the plant on HP, drops capacity and overworks the compressor.
Compressor faults
Valve leaks, worn bearings, shaft seal leakage, motor overload, high discharge temperature, oil carry-over. We overhaul and rebuild rather than automatically replace — often the difference between sailing on schedule and waiting on a spare.
Refrigerant leaks and loss of charge
Leak detection, repair, recovery and recharge. Where a system leaks repeatedly, we'll say so rather than selling you gas twice a year — and on an ODS system, repeated top-ups also mean repeated Record Book entries.
Loss of temperature in provision rooms
Defrost faults, evaporator icing, drainage blockage, door seal failure, control drift, thermostat and sensor faults.
Plant tripping on safeties
HP/LP trips, oil differential, motor protection, phase failure. A plant cutting out on a safety is protecting itself — the fault is what's driving it there.
How to Get Us on Board
Send the vessel details
Vessel name, IMO number, port or anchorage, ETA and ETD, the system affected and what it's doing. WhatsApp, email or phone — whichever is fastest, any hour.
We confirm mobilisation
We tell you straight away whether we can make your window, what we'd bring, and what it will take. If we can't make it, we'll say so immediately rather than leaving you to discover it on the day.
We attend and report
Our team attends alongside, at anchorage or in yard, works to your permit-to-work system, completes the scope, and hands over a written report with readings and actions.
Send this and we can quote immediately
- Vessel name and IMO number
- Port or anchorage, ETA and ETD
- System affected — AC plant, provision plant, reefer, cargo, compressor
- Make and model if known, and the refrigerant in use
- Fault description — what it's doing, what alarms or trips, when it started
- Photographs of the plant, nameplate and any fault codes
- Agent details and who is arranging launch, gate passes and permits
- Spares already on board, if any
Planned Maintenance, Not Just Breakdowns
Breakdown attendance is expensive, disruptive and always badly timed. For operators with vessels calling the UAE regularly, we run planned HVAC-R maintenance programmes scheduled around your trading pattern.
- Attendance planned around your rotation — work carried out on port calls you're already making
- Condition monitoring of compressors, condensers and controls
- Seawater condenser cleaning on schedule
- Refrigerant leak management and ODS Record Book support
- Spares planning — what to carry, what we hold ashore
- Consistent reporting format across the fleet, for your PMS and technical files
- Ship and shore under one supplier
Why Technical Managers Use Us
Conversion capability
R12 and R22 to R134a, R407c, R404a and R417a — a scope few contractors in this region are genuinely equipped to deliver.
We overhaul, not just replace
In-house compressor overhaul, motor rewinding and rebuilt compressor supply. When a spare is weeks away, a rebuild is the difference between sailing and waiting.
Ship and shore
We design and build industrial refrigeration and chiller plant ashore as well. Very few marine contractors can cover both.
We work to your window
Sailing dates don't move for contractors. Attendance is planned around ETA and ETD, at whatever hour that means.
Send Us the Vessel, the Port and the ETA
We'll confirm whether we can make your window — usually the same day.