FINLAND Buoyant orders boost Finnish building
Last year saw a record number of deliveries, new orders and development work among Finland-based maritime companies. Henrik Segercrantz reports.
T
HE Finnish economy grew at a swift pace in comparison with the rest of Europe during
year 2006, particularly within the metal industry. The large scale shipbuilding industry, primarily consisting of Aker Yards, with newbuilding construction in Turku and Rauma, as well as assembly in Helsinki, did exceptionally well, with a large number of suppliers to the maritime industry in Finland and some globally active designers and consultants benefiting. Offshore constructor Technip Offshore Finland
in Mäntyluoto on the west coast also proved successful in building Spar-type offshore rigs. Including Turku Repair Yard, three companies
together employ some 4500 staff and some 3100 external subcontractors working at the yards, with Aker Yards' Turku yard the biggest, with a staff of about 2200.
Aker's cruise & ferry boom In 2005 Aker received a record 12 newbuilding orders, resulting in an accumulated orderbook of E3.3 billion at the beginning of 2006, with deliveries stretching into 2008. The orderbook included seven ship conversions. A year ago Finnish Aker President Yrjö Julin was appointed head of the entire Cruise & Ferries business area of Aker Yards, including the cruise shipbuilding at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard of Aker Yards France (formerly Chantiers de l'Atlantique), the business which merged with Aker Yards in Spring 2006. Consequently, 2006 has seen active coordination of shipbuilding organisations, as well as sales in Finland and France, as part of the new member's consolidation with Aker Yards. By the end of 2006, the newbuilding orderbook
at Aker Yards consisted of three cruise ships, eight ferries and one ro-ro container ship. The total gross tonnage of the orderbook was 896,200 corresponding to 991,064 cgt. Although only two newbuilding orders were received in 2006, one of them was for the record-breaking 220,000gt cruise ship that will emerge from Project Genesis for Royal Caribbean International. The other order was for a ferry for Brittany Ferries. Last year saw the first cruise ship in a series of
three vessels for Royal Caribbean International (RCI), Freedom of the Seas, delivered in mid- April (see The Naval Architect July/August 2006). This spectacular series of 158,00gt ships - today the world's largest operational vessels in the market - is a 339m long extended version of the previous five successful 138,000gt Voyager- class ships built for the same client in 1999- 2003. Two Freedom-class sisterships (Liberty of the
Seas and Endeavour of the Seas) are due in May 2007 and April 2008 respectively. Liberty of the Seas had its sea trials in December. The Turku yard is also busy building the even
more spectacular 220,000gt Project Genesis. This ship, valued at some E900m, is the most expensive ship order ever placed in the world and is due for delivery in October 2009. With a length
12
Tallink Star, a fast 27knots passenger-car ferry for the Helsinki –Tallinn route with a capacity of 1900 passengers was launched in Helsinki in November last year.
Sea trials with the second Freedom-class cruise ship Liberty of the Seas took place in December. Freedom of the Seas, the first in a series of three 158,000gt vessels for Royal Caribbean International was delivered last April.
of 360m and breadth 47m the cruise ship will be able to accommodate 5400 passengers. The order was received in February 2006. In April 2006 the 48,900gt 2800 passenger cruise
ferry Galaxy was delivered to Tallink. Also the first two in a series of three ro-ro/containerships for Swedish Transatlantic/Baltic Container Shipping were delivered in August and December 2006. The Arctic container/cargo vessel Norilskiy Nickel was officially handed over to MMC Norilsk Nickel in April 2006, having concluded successful ice trials in Russian Arctic waters. The order for four more vessels was placed in July, not to be built in Finland, but by the Merchant Vessel Division in Germany.
The third quarter order backlog of the whole
Aker Yards Group consisted of 150 vessels and was valued at NKr77.5 billion (approx. E9.4b). The EBITDA margin was 4.7%, pushed down by a negative result of the three ro-ro container vessels for Transatlantic/Baltic Container Shipping by some NKr60 million, and by capacity costs related to low utilisation in France of NKr90 million. Having acquired the Florø yard from Kleven and
Okean Shipyard in Ukraine in a joint venture with Dutch Damen Shipyards Group and a shipyard in Vietnam, Aker Yards now comprises 18 shipyards in eight countries with approximately 20,000 employees.
THE NAVAL ARCHITECT FEBRUARY 2007
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105