The profit of the Galaţi Shipyard has fallen by half in 2011

After achieving a spectacular recovery in 2010 by ending the financial year with a profit of 6 million Euros (after posting losses of 2 million Euros in 2009) last year, the Shipyard of Damen Galaţi only had a profit of 3 million Euros.

That figure hasn't discouraged the shipmaker of Galaţi, especially since they already have contracts to build 11 ships, which means that their output capacity for this year and for the next is already full. Florin Spătaru, HR & Corporate Affairs Director at Damen Galaţi said: "In shipbuilding, the profit is not constant, due to the long production cycles and to the constantly changing number of ships delivered. For this industry, what m matters is not the turnover, but the value of the ships produced. Another explanation for the drop in the profit was the contracting of orders in 2010 at a lower profit, to cover the output capacity, as prices fell all over the world for the building of new ships".

In October this year, the Naval Shipyard will launch the largest ship it built in the last ten years. It is a support ship (JSS) for the Dutch Military Marine, which will have a length of 205 meters and a width of 30 meters. The ship will have a crew of 150 members and up to 150 additional residents, such as the crews of the helicopters and the medical teams.

"This year we expect to deliver 17 ships, of which we can mention the delivery of two dredgers for Ukrainian customers, two technical ships for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fishing of Angola and a patrol ship for the Dutch Military Marine", said Corina Pîrvu, spokesperson to the shipyard.

The last ship launch at the shipyard of Galaţi took place on March 15th, when the shipbuilders completed the second of the series of three ships built for the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fishing of Angola.

The shipyard employs almost 1,700 residents of Galaţi, and the average gross wage across the company is 2,200 lei, as the last wage increase was implemented in January 2012, and the next one, of 3%, will be implemented starting with July 1st.