FINLAND Good times are here again for Aker Finnyards
2005 brought many new orders for the Finnish shipbuilding industry. These have been reinforced by an ambitious new link with the large French shipyard Alstom Marine. Henrik Segercrantz reports.
Finnyards. At the beginning of 2005, the orderbook of the company included only six new ships, and in such a precarious situation, the company was in the middle of a process to reduce its workforce. Now, a year later, the situation looks quite
A
different. Last year, Aker Finnyards secured a remarkable record total of 12 new orders, giving 11,800 'person-years' of work. At the turn of this year, the group's backlog was valued at €3.3 billion, with deliveries at all yards until mid-2008.
The total orderbook today includes 17 newbuildings and seven ship conversions. Other non-group Finnish shipyards include offshore constructor Technip Offshore Finland and the Turku Repair Yard, and together they employ some 4500 people. In addition, there are some 2000 subcontractors working at the yards.
In January this year, Norway-based Aker
Yards, with operating revenues estimated at about NKr15-NKr18 billion (around €1.9-€2.2 billion) for 2005, made its surprise announcement that it will, in effect, take over the large French cruise-ship builder Chantiers de l'Atlantique, owned by the Alstom group (discussed in more detail in our Editorial Comment). This should create interesting new possibilities for the cruise-liner business (Atlantique's current LNG carrier contracts are not included in the sale); both Aker Finnyards and Atlantique have extensive experience of cruise liner design and construction. Yrjö Julin,
YEAR ago all three newbuilding shipyards in Finland were merged into Aker
president of Aker Finnyards, will also head cruise ship construction taking place in France, as he already heads the cruise and ferries business area of Aker Yards.
In Finland, major newbuilding orders received last year include a third mega-size 158,000gt cruise liner in the Freedom series for Royal Caribbean International. The first of these ships, each of which is worth some €570 -€580 million, is due for delivery from Turku in April this year (Freedom of the Seas), with the second in spring 2007, and the third in spring 2008.
Flurry of new ferry contracts Aker Finnyards has won a flush of ferry orders recently, which started when Color Line confirmed an order for a second 75,000gt cruise ferry, a sister to Color Fantasy. This newbuilding, to be named Color Magic, is valued at €325 million and will be built partly at the Turku Yard with outfitting at Rauma, for delivery in September 2007. In December, Color Line's orders for two fast passenger-car ferries were confirmed. They are intended for coastal traffic in Norway, for delivery from the Rauma yard in 2007 and 2008. The 211m long and 26m wide ships have a passenger capacity of 1800 and can take 400
cars. The order for the two ships is worth €232 million.
The 2800-passenger 48,300gt cruise-ferry
Galaxy (discussed in a separate article in this feature) for Estonian ferry operator Tallink is due for delivery from the Rauma yard this spring. Last August, Tallink placed a new order for a fast, 27knot, passenger/car ferry for the Helsinki-Tallinn route. With a capacity of 1900 passengers and more than 2000lane metres of ro-ro space, that vessel, 185m long and 27.70m wide, will be able to complete the voyage in only one hour and 50 minutes. The value of this order is approximately €110 million. A few
days later fast-growing Tallink placed an order at Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for yet another ship: a 29knot 2000-passenger and 2000lane metre ferry of 36,000gt. In August 2005, French operator Brittany Ferries, an old customer of Finnish shipbuilders, booked a new order - for a trailer
ferry for English Channel traffic, worth some €80 million, for delivery in autumn 2007. The ro-pax trailer design can carry mainly lorries at a speed of 23knots. The 165m long and 26.8m wide hull has 2.2km of vehicle deck space and 120 cabins. Both the Tallink and Brittany orders included options, and are to be assembled at the Helsinki yard from blocks delivered from Turku or Rauma. In November, Viking Line placed an order - its first for some years and worth €120-€130 million - for a fast passenger/vehicle ferry, including options for two additional vessels. A total of 40MW of machinery power will give the 185m long and 27.7m wide vessel a speed of 25knots, and the ferry will compete with new Tallink tonnage on the route between Helsinki and Tallinn. Voyage time will be two hours 15 minutes. The ship will have a capacity for 2500 passengers as well as 240 private cars, in addition to trailers. Delivery is scheduled for January 2008. In December, Tallink confirmed the order for a fourth ferry - a sister for Galaxy - from Aker Finnyards. This order is valued at €165 million. Large steel blocks will be fabricated at Rauma and Turku and transported by barge to Helsinki for assembly, with completion expected in the summer of 2008.
Brittany Ferries option converted to full passenger/vehicle design
In the same month, Brittany Ferries' ro-pax ferry option was replaced by a letter of intent for a different type of vessel: a full passenger/vehicle ferry. Last month (January),
In January, Brittany Ferries confirmed its December letter of intent for a second new ship but chose to change the design (utilising the same hull) from a ro-pax model to a full 1500-passenger/vehicle ferry, with 1100lane metres of vehicle space. She will be named Bretagne IIand will sail on the Plymouth- Roscoff route.
THE NAVALARCHITECT FEBRUARY 2006
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