Most shipyards are now only relying on contracts closed in the previous years. According to market experts, the local naval sector, which managed to avoid the crisis due to previous orders, is now beginning to feel the impact of the global financial deadlock.
"We have not contracted any ship so far, this year. We are analyzing some possibilities, but nothing was finalized so far," STX Tulcea General Manager, Tudorel Topa, told Business Standard.
"We are taking any opportunity," he added. To this purpose, the company is changing strategy. The naval yard mostly builds technical ships for marine oil platforms, offshore ships, but it is willing to take orders for containers and "almost any ship type" that fits the dimensions of the yard's platform.
Topa estimates that the crisis will hit the sector next summer. "We are working at full capacity until March 2010 and the last ship will be delivered in December next year. But the critical period will begin in the first half of 2010," he said.
