Aker Braila shipyard generated nine-month net profits of 18.5 billion ROL (more than 455,000 euros), almost four times higher in ROL than the results for the first half of the year.
Growth in profit’s outpaced the sales, which increased 7.7% in ROL, compared with the end of June, to 637.6 billion ROL (15.6 million euros).
The bulk of net profits were obtained in the third quarter, when the company made 13.7 billion ROL. Third-quarter turnover amounted to 277.8 billion ROL, up 4% on turnover for the third quarter of 2003.
No company officials were available for comment at the time of going to press
The positive trend in the company’s financials mirrors the results achieved by all Romanian shipyards. Beginning last year, Romanian shipyards began to receive an increasing number of orders from companies renewing their fleets to meet international standards. Currently, Aker Braila has 14 contracts with customers from Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany, with more contracts likely to be closed by the end of the year.
In April 2004 alone, Aker Braila concluded contracts worth some 32 million euros for ships due for delivery in 2004-2006. In May, the company won another contract with Dutch company Salero BV valued at 3 million euros.
All Romania’s shipyards have benefited from the extremely favourable trends on international markets. The main reason behind this is the economic growth seen in Asia (mainly China and Japan), which triggered unprecedented increases in naval trade and convinced companies of the need to renew their fleets. Contracts with oil companies and the surging demand from Asian markets have brought numerous orders to Romanian shipyards, an amount sufficient to last the next two to three years.
Due to the soaring demand for steel in Chinese, naval trade in the raw materials needed to make steel (coal and iron ore) reached all-time highs. The same has been true of crude oil.
Added to this, new worldwide regulations for the transportation of crude oil and liquid gas make compulsory the replacement of old ships with new double and triple-hulled ships.
catalin.ciocan@zf.ro