Mykolayiv’s Okean Shipbuilding Plant has started building four multipurpose ships designed to carry various types of freight. The Thursday before the last saw the laying of the first section of the first ship of a series ordered by the Damen Shipyards Group. According to preliminary results, this Dutch company won the tender for a 78% share in Okean.
Such a procedure, laying the keel of a ship, last took place at Okean five years ago, when the plant began to build a series of the Panamax-type bulk carriers ordered by the Black Sea Shipping Company. Then they managed to build only one ship, while the construction of the next one was suspended due to insolvency of the client. In 1997, the completion of the ship aroused interest of a Germany’s MPC Marine Co., which contracted Okean for 10 Panamax ships on condition that the Ukrainian government would guarantee a loan from the Japanese Export-Import Bank. However, owing to the difficulties related to obtaining the credit, this project was never carried out. And now Damen Shipyard Groups has come as a client for the unfinished bulk carrier, four multipurpose ships, and a series of large-capacity vessels, a contract on which is to be signed next October, and according to Okean General Director Mykola Romanchuk, the company is ready to provide a full workload to the enterprise and set the goal of achieving profitability in the plant’s performance as soon as in 2001.
The preoccupation of the Dutch company with the destiny of the Ukrainian enterprise is due to the fact that on September 11 the results of the State Property Fund announced the Damen Shipyards Group winner of the tender for a 78% share in the Okean Shipbuilding Plant. The Dutch company had bid UAH 26 million (with the initial price of the block being 25,928,000). The results evoked various opinions. The main argument of the critics of such results was, “It’s too little,” to which Oleksiy Harkusha, the head of Mykolayiv Oblast State Administration responded with: “I understand everything. We could have sold it for more. But to whom?” Incidentally, there have already been attempts to sell big shares in Okean in the past: in 1998 the SPF offered a 58% share as two equal blocks, but not one bidder came forward then. And now there is only one bidder. There was, however, one more competitor, a Ukrainian company representing Donbas, but its plans to convert the shipyard into a metal scrap transshipment facility ran counter to the terms of the bidding which required the contestants to preserve the production structure of the enterprise, as well as jobs, to increase the production volume within four years to 120,000 tons in deadweight for the large capacity vessels production line, and at least 15,000 for medium capacity. In addition to the cost of the shares, the buyer has to assume the obligation to pay within two months Okean’s UAH 2.5 million debt to the budget, and, within the same period, 5.5 million as partial payment of back wages and the same amount within half a year. Becoming virtually the absolute owner of the plant, the buyer also inherits almost UAH 160 million in Okean’s accounts payable. Incidentally, the UAH 26 million is still not the final price. After the announcement of preliminary results, there an expert assessment of the block of shares was begun, based on which, in Oleksiy Harkusha’s words, the final price, according to information at hand, should be increased by UAH 300,000. The SPF was supposed to make its final decision on this issue on September 26. Meanwhile, Okean has already started to fulfill the Dutch orders. It is expected that the first two multipurpose ships will be transferred to the client at 80% usability, after which they will be transported to the Damen works in Holland for completion. The next two vessels will be finished completely in Mykolayiv. The term within which Okean is supposed to hand over the first ship, whose keel has been laid, to the client, was fixed at ten months.
