Page 28: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 15, 1984)

The newly constructed North Sea Hall at Haugesund Mekanlske Verksted's yard Circle 92

Scandinavian Shipbuilding — Sweden (continued from page 291 with the announcement, towards the end of 1983, that Swedish op- erator Wallenius lines had placed an order for two car carriers, with a 1985 completion date.

Uddevallavarvet's future order- jV/r-c" y

MARINE

COATINGS t^THAT

WORK

For

Technical

Information

Contact:

JOTUN

MARINE COATINGS, INC. 840 Key Highway • Baltimore, MD 21 230 or call: 301/539-0045 book appears thin. However, the last of three OBOs for Philippines

Transmarine, together with a pair of products tankers for Anders and

Wilh. Wilhelmsen and an ore/oil carrier for Ugland Management will ensure work until the latter half of next year. After that, activ- ity will depend upon any success in obtaining new orders in the near future.

The real success story in Swed- ish shipbuilding is to be found at

Gotaverken Arendal. Since facing a crisis with the collapse of the tanker market in the late 1970s,

Gotaverken has devoted itself en- tirely to offshore building, and has established itself as Europe's leader in this field.

Since 1980, it has turned out 15 rigs from its single yard, in addi- tion to four conversions and a module. The current orderbook features four supply vessels for

Stena Offshore, and four diving support ships and a semi-submers- ible rig for Consafe.

At the other Swedish yards, the outlook is less encouraging. Only

Falkenbergs Varvet has a vessel under construction, a small supply ship for Tunisia. Oresundvarvet has been closed down, and Oskar- hamns resurrected under private ownership with a 50 percent re- duction in workforce.

However, Cityvarvet, the repair and service group, reported a small profit in 1983.

The Cityvarvet organization has ten docking facilities able to take ships of up to 240,000 dwt. These are strategically located around the Swedish west, south and east coasts. An important part of the

Cityvarvet resources is the world- wide ship service through its

Ciserv-organization.

Norway

The structure of Norwegian shipbuilding is very different from that of Sweden. While the Swedes have opted for a small number of large-capacity state-owned yards, each specializing in a particular vessel type, the Norwegians have completely avoided government intervention and central control.

As a result, the coastline of Nor- way is peppered with small ship- yards. Once again, the story of de- cline is revealed by cuts in the labor force. Before 1974 and 1983, the number of people employed in shipbuilding in Norwegian yards had declined from 15,082 to just 4,541.

The building of large ships in

Norway is rare now. The biggest vessels delivered in 1983 were two 55,000 dwt chemical tankers, built at Horten for Th. Brovig and Toro

Horten A/s, and a 38,400-dwt chemical tanker built by Aker for

J O Odfell.

Most of the yards with capacity for large vessels have turned their attention elsewhere. Aker has gone over to offshore activity, while

Haugesund Mek. Verksted and (continue on page 32) 15,1984 Circle 296 on Reader Service Card