Astilleros Navales Bahìa Las Caldera (ANABALCA), was founded in 1974 by the Dominican Republic Navy for docking and repair of their fleet of small vessels not more than 750 tons displacement.

In March 1986, The US Government leased a floating dry-dock with a capacity of 1000 tons to the Dominican Navy. The dock had been used at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. It was in a state of disrepair and was about to be scrapped because of its condition. The Dominican Navy was supposed to repair the dock but failed to do so, both because of a lack of funds and the technical efforts required. In 1988, a severe storm pushed the dock into a nearby beach where it remained until 1990. It was eventually refloated and taken to Las Calderas. Due to the extent of damage it had sustained and understanding that the Dominican Navy would not be able to handle this project on its own, a contract was signed between Ciramar and the Dominican Navy in August 1991.

This agreement was for the repair of the equipment as well as for the operation and management of the Shipyard by ANABALCA. The floating dry-dock, syncrolift and all the yard equipment were repaired and new equipment were purchased.

In December 1991 the syncrolift started to operate and in September 1993 the 200 ft. floating dry-dock was repaired and commenced lifting vessels up to 900 tons.

Since December 1991 to December 2001, 355 vessels have been repaired, but due to the great demand of bigger vessels that were asking for dry-docking ANABALCA bought a floating dry-dock of 155 m x 25 m with a lifting capacity of 7500 tons that arrived at the yard on August 2002 and started operating immediately.

At the present ANABALCA has one of the only two dry-docks available in the Dominican Republic. ANABALCA can also be considered one of the most complete and important shipyards in the Caribbean.