The head of the Danish Embassy's office believes that Mykolaiv should reorient its shipbuilding industry: «Boats or drones»

Head of the Office of the Royal Danish Embassy in Mykolaiv. Photo by «NikVesti»

Jakob Hansen, Head of the Office of the Danish Embassy in Mykolaiv, believes that Mykolaiv shipbuilding in its traditional sense has no future. The existing plants should be retrained to meet future demand, for example, for the production of marine drones or boats.

He said this in an interview with «and».

In particular, he noted that he agreed with Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych when he said that the city would no longer build aircraft carriers. Factories should adapt to the needs of the modern market, says Jakob Hansen.

«I agree with Oleksandr Sienkevych that aircraft carriers will not be built here in the future. Not because they can't, but because there is no demand for it at all. So who should be the client for such ships? It should be the Ukrainian Navy or the navies of European countries. Of course, now, for example, Denmark will be ordering new warships, because we are already rearming ourselves in response to the growing threat level. These shipyards in Mykolaiv can join in,» said Jakob Hansen.

He recalled that before the full-scale invasion, Mykolaiv had already agreed to build ships at the facilities of «Nibulon», but, in his opinion, Mykolaiv enterprises should start focusing on the demand of today's realities.

«I think that small boats or marine drones are a more promising direction for Mykolaiv shipyards. Some of Mykolaiv's enterprises should continue to operate more or less as they are now, but they should focus on the European market. And competition in the Western market is fierce. And again, I'd like to talk about energy efficiency, because many gas turbines, engines, and so on, which were produced in Soviet times, are very expensive in terms of using gas or diesel. And this is not suitable for the modern world,» said the head of the Danish Embassy's office in Mykolaiv.

It should be noted that in 2023, Ambassador Ole Egberg Mikkelsen said in a commentary to NikVesti that the Kingdom of Denmark would help Mykolaiv restore and modernise its shipbuilding facilities after the end of a full-scale war.

He also said that Denmark would consider starting cooperation with Mykolaiv in shipbuilding as soon as the military situation in Ukraine allows it . Mykolaiv shipyards, in his opinion, could compete with the shipbuilding companies of Poland, Korea and China.