Privatisation has profits for Bilbao yard
On the outskirts of the Basque city of Bilbao, a former state owned shipyard has recouped its leadership position in the sector and closed its first year as a privately-owned business with a heſty orderbook.
160,000gt, enough to guarantee work until 2011. Te yard was a key facility within the public
T
shipbuilder Izar but was privatised when that company collapsed following a state aid investigation by the European Union. It was taken over in 2007 by Construcciones
Navales del Norte [CNN] and rapidly began rebuilding its reputation as one of Spain’s premier yards. In 2008, La Naval delivered the largest
dredger ever built - the 223m, 52,000dwt Cristóbal Colón - to Belgian operator Jan de Nul. With a 30,500m3
capacity, the vessel is
designed to be able dredge sand and rocks of up to half a metre in diameter from a depth of up to 142m. Te yard is now at work on a sister ship,
the Leiv Eiriksson, which was launched last September and is slated for delivery in 2010. Both vessels will work in the United Arab
Emirates to build a network of artificial islands off the coast of Dubai. Jan de Nul has an option on a third ship in this series. To build the first vessel in the series,
Cristóbal Colón, the yard was financed by Banesto bank to the value of E260million. Te second vessel is being financed with a
The largest dredger ever built, the 52,000dwt 223m Christobel Colon following its launch.
E158million credit from La Caixa. Te yard is also carrying out other work
for Jan De Nul and last March launched a mining vessel, Simon Stevin, which also the largest ship of its type at 200m in length and with cargo capacity of 32,500tonnes. La Naval is also building a fourth vessel
for Jan de Nul, another mining ship destined for work off Papua New Guinea and able to extract mineral deposits at a depth of 1700m. Tis last vessel is valued at E240million and
is also being part-financed by La Caixa. Looking ahead, yard executives are
confident of winning new contracts in the coming years, particularly in the offshore sector. One area of potential business is vessels
designed to carry out installation and maintenance on wind generators in large offshore wind farms that are planned off the coasts of several European Union nations, including Spain itself. NA
he Sestao shipyard, known in Bilbao as La Naval, ended 2008 with contracts for four ships representing
The Naval Architect November 2009
35
Feature 1
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68