Denmark wants to help Mykolaiv with shipbuilding: «The region can compete with the shipyards of Poland, Korea, and China»

The Kingdom of Denmark is considering the start of cooperation with Mykolaiv in the field of shipbuilding as soon as the military situation in Ukraine allows. He believes that the Mykolaiv factories can become competitors of the shipbuilding companies of Poland, Korea and China.

The Ambassador of Denmark to Ukraine Ole Egberg Mikkelsen told about this in an interview with «Economichna Pravda».

According to the ambassador, the Mykolaiv shipyards can be modernized to be competitive at the international level. In particular, there are specialists among the citizens who should be involved in this.

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«They can compete with the shipyards of Poland, Korea, and China, and we see no reason why they should not do so. You have good specialists, welders, strong traditions. Of course, it is difficult now because of the military situation. The port is blocked, no ships can enter or leave, but eventually, I hope, the city will become a shipbuilding city again. I think there is huge potential here. Danish companies are ready to help in this», said Ole Egberg Mikkelsen.

Currently, Denmark itself does not build ships, but it has naval design offices, marine engineers and a strong shipping tradition. With the help of these resources, the restoration of the shipbuilding industry may be possible in Mykolaiv as well.

«About 10% of world trade is carried out by Danish vessels. So we see a lot of opportunities for cooperation, for interaction that would be mutually beneficial. There are many Ukrainian sailors in the world, so there are already points of contact. We see our partnership with Mykolaiv as something that can stimulate and bring back the shipbuilding tradition to the city», he added.

The country is currently negotiating with the management of Admiral Makarov Shipbuilding University, which was partially damaged by shelling from the Russian Federation. Denmark is involved in the restoration of the institution because, according to Ambassador Ole Egberg Mikkelsen, it will bring back young people and create places for foreign students to study, which serves as an additional source of income.

As you know, there are three shipyards located on the territory of Mykolaiv: SE Mykolaiv Shipyard, PJSC Black Sea Shipyard and LLC Ocean Shipyard.

Of all three, once city-forming enterprises, only one is fully operational today — the Okean plant. The integrated property complex of the Okean shipyard was sold at an auction on December 3, 2018 for 122 million 195 thousand hryvnias to the Annona Trading House company. The new owner undertook to pay the former employees of the plant arrears from wages in the total amount of about 100 million hryvnias, which was done a few months after the purchase. The new owner of the plant, Vasyl Kapatsyna, began to restore the work of the shipbuilding plant. In 2019, Okean Shipbuilding Plant LLC received the first state order — the repair of a dredger for the Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine, a contract was also signed with the Dutch shipping company Eurobulk for the construction of two dry cargo barges and the modernization of a river-sea class dry cargo. It was also reported that the Okean plant signed a contract for the completion of two dry cargo vessels of the Buh type. Black Sea Shipbuilding Plant went bankrupt and was liquidated. The Smart Holding group explained this by «the termination of financing of the state program for the construction of a series of ships of the «corvette» class and political pressure» on Vadym Novinskyi, a politician opposed to the fifth president Petro Poroshenko, who was a beneficiary of the plant. As for SE Mykolaiv Shipyard, this enterprise is idle today without orders. Earlier, the head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, David Arakhamia, expressed the opinion that the plant is no longer capable of building ships for a number of reasons: outdated equipment, lack of qualified personnel, financial problems, as well as growing competition in the form of two other plants, Okean and Nibulon in Mykolaiv. According to the people's deputy, the territory can be turned into a technology park.

We remind you that at the end of August last year, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych and the Minister of International Development of Denmark, Flemming Møller Mortensen, signed a memorandum of cooperation. The memorandum envisages joint work on the formation of reconstruction projects and the involvement of investors from various countries in the restoration of Mykolaiv.