Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries (DMHI) shipyard has secured orders worth 300 million dollars over the last six months, with the last contract stipulating construction of four container ships worth 200 million dollars. The Mangalia-based shipyard is already looking for customers to buy the ships it will be able to build in 2008, as the production capacity is fully contracted by that time.
The ships for which DMHI has sealed contracts in the last six months are, according to the company's vice-president Gheorghe Petrescu, similar to those built by the company's majority shareholder, Korean company Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.
In fact, the construction of the four container ships in Mangalia will be preceded by the construction of two identical ships in Daewoo's Korean shipyard.
The six ships to be built in Korea and Romania will be bought by the German company Gebab Konzeptions und Treuhandgesellschaft. BCR will guarantee the down payments made by the German company and will also fund the working capital of the Mangalia-based shipyard.
DMHI became a builder of turnkey ships late last year after signing a contract worth more than $90 million to supply three tankers to a Cyprus-based company.
Korean ship builders have gained a competitive edge in the last years, especially over West-European builders, due to high labour productivity and to the appreciation of the European single currency that generated a rise in prices of ships produced in Europe. Daewooo Korea could not commit to deliver the ships in line with the agreed terms, and therefore orders were taken over by the Romanian shipyard.
In its turn, Daewoo Mangalia gave part of its current contracts to the Constanta Shipyard that is owned by businessman Gheorghe Bosanceanu of Constanta.
While the labour productivity of Romanian shipyards is far below that of the Korean shipyard, the low labour costs are boosting the Romanian companies' competitiveness, despite the rise in steel prices, a trend that hit the Romanian market harder than the Korean companies.
Petrescu says that Romanian shipyards rank fourth in Europe this year in terms of registered orders.
The Mangalia-based shipyard anticipates $130 million turnover this year, but also a drop in profits amid rising prices of raw materials.
vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro
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