Representatives of Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries (DMHI) and officials of the German ship owner Hamburg Sud are set to sign a contract worth more than 500 million dollars (over 387 million euros) this Friday.
Under the contract DMHI will build six container carriers, each with a capacity of 5,200 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit).
This is not the first time the shipyard in Mangalia has collaborated with German companies: last year it entered into a contract with German ship owner Gebab to supply four container carriers in a project worth 200 million euros (155 million euros), with the 4,500 TEU ships to be delivered no later than July 2007.
According to sources quoted in an earlier edition of Ziarul Financiar, Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries could build a further four container carriers for Gebab, which would see the company negotiating a contract worth some 250-260 million dollars (approximately 193 million euros).
The shipyard is aiming to reach a 500 million dollar turnover by 2009. Its turnover for 2004 was 128 million dollars (105 million euros).
Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries was established in 1997 as a joint venture by the South Korean company Daewoo (51%) and 2 Mai Mangalia (49%), which is controlled by the Romanian state.
The contracts signed by DMHI confirm the rebound of the entire ship building industry, which has been enjoying a strong recovery since last year, with all shipyards in Romania working at full capacity in 2004.
The recovery among ship builders was mainly due to the increased appetite of the Asian economies, which induced growth in the maritime trade. However, the higher demand for steel also caused its price to rise, which affects shipyards, whose main raw material is sheet steel. catalin.ciocan@zf.ro
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