Fortus - Iasi Delivers New Batch of Major Parts For AKER - Tulcea Tower Cranes

Fortus SA - Iasi has delivered a new set of major parts for the tower cranes necessary for building ships customized to service maritime platforms. The customer is the AKER Shipyard in Tulcea, which has started developing a new class of such ships following an increase in demand. The Romanian-based shipyards of the Norwegian ship maker has commissioned Fortus SA - Iasi to produce major parts of the tower crane and is likely to maintain the contract until 2012.Shipyards generate approximately 80% of the annual turnover of Fortus. Other customer categories include iron mills, cement producers, mining companies and machine-building companies. Among Fortus" main EU customers are Siemens Power AG, Reinhold Gould and Haltapa in Germany, IHC in Holland, Kossler in Austria, Celsa in Poland and others. For such customers, Fortus produces components for windmills, spare parts for draining installations and subparts for the iron & steel industry.Despite its strategic importance, the factory is currently subject to an insolvency procedure demanded by the creditors. The reorganization plan will be prepared by 30 October, when creditors will be invited to express their stand on the matter. According to the court-appointed administrator, Fortus owes some 75 million EUR, of which 65 million EUR to the State.The current plan is to auction off one third of the plant"s production space, including the respective land for a target of 85 million EUR. Also, obsolete equipment could be sold for 5 million EUR. The State Assets Recovery Authority (AVAS) is the majority shareholder with 60.03%. Metalexportimport is second with 26.23%, while SIF Moldova has 13.56%.