“I think that we will register a €1-2 million annual increase on the new construction segment in 2009, while investments will not exceed €60 million,” DMHI’s General Manager, Vasile Iorga, told Business Standard exclusively. This stagnation is the result of the global financial crisis.
Iorga explained that, in times of crisis, nobody wants their ship sooner, everybody wants it later, if possible, or not at all. “Some ship owners wanted to terminate contracts, although we manage to negotiate postponements in the end,” the General Manager added. The Mangalia shipyard plans to deliver five ships this year, after delaying the construction of three ships by 3-6 months.
DMHI’s plans include delivering nine ships in 2010, which means a 40 percent increase in net sales, to some €800 mln. Although forecasts are positive in terms of turnover, Iorga showed his concern for the lack of orders at the beginning of 2009. “No contracts have been signed this year, and we have no prospects for signing any. The market is dead from this standpoint,” the company official said. Iorga added that, if things continue at the same pace, and the company does not sign a contract by the first quarter of 2010, the shipyard will enter a restructuring process.
