Page 26: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 15, 1984)

Scandinavian Shipbuilding — Denmark (continued from page 26) shipowner is Lindovaerft, at

Odense. In this instance, the rela- tionship stems from the fact that the shipowner, A P Moller, is the yard's parent company. Orders from

Moller account for a large propor- tion of the yard's currently healthy orderbook, which includes a pair of 15,000 m3 LPG tankers, and a series of 48,000 dwt products tankers.

Indeed, Lindovaerft is becoming something of a specialist in this kind of vessel, with two further examples on order for Torm D/S, and the delivery of two giant 97,570 dwt products tankers to A P Moller last year. In addition, a $52.6-mil- lion order for two 20,000-dwt prod- ucts tankers has just been an- nounced. Due for delivery towards the end of 1986, the vessels have been ordered by the Danish In- vestment Fund, and will be bare- boat chartered to A P Moller with an option to buy after the first five years.

Of the smaller Danish yards, the most successful has been the prolific coaster builder Nordso- vaerft. At the beginning of this year the yard had nine vessels on the orderbook, including a series of three multi-purpose dry cargo ships with container capacity for

Elite Shipping. These vessels are due for delivery in the last quarter of 1984 and the early part of 1985

In general, Danish shipyards have managed to remain inde- pendent from state ownership, and relatively busy. They are helped considerably by the fact that Dan- ish shipowners rarely place orders overseas, and indeed many of the yards are actually owned by ship- ping companies.

Finland

A glance at the list of Finnish deliveries in recent years shows quite conclusively that the coun- try's shipbuilding industry is very heavily dependent on orders from the USSR. It has been estimated that around 60 percent of Finnish shipbuilding activity since 1980 has been for the Soviet Union, and indeed of the 33 vessels of more than 2,000 dwt delivered by Fin- nish yards in 1983, only five were destined for non-Soviet ownership.

At the beginning of 1984, how- ever, Finnish orderbooks were showing a decline, due almost en- tirely to the fact that the lion's share of the work resulting from the current Soviet five-year plan had already been exhausted.

Therefore, the recent announce- ment of 21 Soviet newbuildings for

Finland, all of which are advance orders for the next five-year plan, has been enthusiastically wel- comed by the four major Finnish shipbuilding groups, each of which will be getting a slice of this very lucrative pie.

The major beneficiary of this latest round of Soviet ordering is state-owned Valmet, with a 52 percent share, in financial terms, of the total order. It is to build a total of eight new vessels: three 400-berth accommodation vessels, worth $40 million each at its Turku yard, and an additional five arctic multi-purpose cargo ships, of the successful SA 15 design, at

Helsinki.

Valued at some $52.6 million each, these ships will incorporate slight modifications. The changes

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Hollming Ltd. Shipyard Rauma, Finland. are expected to affect the quarter ramp design, accommodation, and engine room layout.

These orders were announced about the same time as a $50 mil- lion contract with Swedish owner

Birka Line for a 21,000 grt pas- senger vessel, representing a re- markable turnaround in fortunes for Valmet.

Although state-owned, the yard is required to operate efficiently and does not benefit from govern- ment subsidies. At the beginning of 1984 the orderbook was at a particularly low ebb. As a result, the corporation merged its two Turku yards — Perno and

Laivateollisus — with the loss of a number of jobs. Shortly there- after, the firm decided to use its large building dock at Helsinki solely for conversion and repair work.

Valmet is Finland's largest ship repairer, with capacity for over ,400 ships per year. However, with the Birka Line order heralding the corporation's entry into the pas- senger vessel field, and the Sovi- ets' timely boost, Valmet is now looking forward to a healthy future.

Numerically, the largest share of the Soviet order has gone to

Rauma Repola, with nine vessels spread among its three yards. Five

Circle 91 5,000 dwt arctic product tankers will be built at Rauma, with two ocean-going tugs ordered from

Uusikaupunki, and two hydro- graphic survey vessels from Savol- lina. The new orders are particu- larly important to these latter two yards, which were rapidly running out of work.

Hollming, although smaller, is one of the country's major ship- builders, and is now becoming something of a specialist in the de- sign and construction of research vessels. It currently has four such craft on order from the USSR, two of which are its share of the latest orders. It is now looking to capital- ize on its experience in building this type of ship, and has recently set up an ocean systems depart- ment for the development market- ing of complex electronic systems.

Without doubt, the most suc- cessful of the Finnish shipbuilders is Wartsila, one of the few genu- inely healthy shipbuilding con- cerns in the world today. Despite only receiving contracts for a pair of dredgers in the latest Soviet or- dering spree, there remains a large amount of good quality tonnage on the books at both its Helsinki and its Perno yards.

The major element in Wartsila's success is its specialization in two

Valmet is building a series of multi-purpose dry cargo ships for the Soviet Union. Circle 97. 28 Circle 333 on Reader Service Card Maritime Reporter/Engineering News