The latest global report on the segment shows that, due to the financial crisis, the year 2008 was disastrous for the naval industry overall, as the number of new ship orders dropped 55 percent year-on-year and plunged to a five-year low.
In the final three months of last year, only 104 new contracts were finalized, some 92 percent lower year-on-year.
ANCONAV General Manager, Gelu Stan, estimates that the global naval industry will drop even further this summer. “We are just beginning to feel the financial tsunami,” Stan said. He added that Romania is relatively favored for its low labor cost, which leads local players to hope that they will not have problems this year. “Regardless of the crisis, naval shipyards have the advantage of the orders portfolio. We are secured until 2011,” according to a statement for Business Standard by the General Manager of Constanta Naval Yard, Radu Rusen.
Furthermore, some of the effects of the crisis, such as the depreciation of the leu against the euro and labor market instability, are beneficial for the business in the field. “For a naval shipyard with operations relying 90 percent on exports, exchange rate variations in disfavor of the national currency are a positive thing,” Rusen said.
