Marek Grobarczyk on the reconstruction of shipbuilding industry and ro-pax ferry

On Radio Gdańsk, Minister of Maritime Economy Marek Grobarczyk was asked about the situation of the shipbuilding industry in Szczecin. At the end of November last year, trade unions operating at the Maritime Gryfia Repair Shipyard sent an open letter, which was handed over to, among others, the Minister, Prime Minister, Speakers of the Sejm and Senate, other politicians, as well as media. This letter states, among other things, that the current situation of the yard is even worse than that of the company in 2010-2015, when, as the letter states, "most of the areas of the Shipyard have been sold out and its production assets have been devastated, and as part of the subsequent Restructuring employees with the highest qualifications were deprived of employment".

The magazine also states: "Unfortunately, after more than two years since then, the situation of the Shipyard has not improved – on the contrary, it is even worse than before. There has been no promised reconstruction of the Shipyard's production assets, which is now in worse condition than ever before. The yard does not have the financial liquidity necessary for its normal functioning – it does not have the means to purchase materials for production and to conduct current operations".

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In another place, trade unionists write: "The flagship project of building a passenger-passenger ferry for Polish Baltic Shipping is in its infancy. Eighteen months have passed since the keel was placed, and design work on this unit has not even been completed, and it is already known that the project will neither be carried out within the planned time limit nor can be carried out at the planned cost. Nor does this project have real sources of funding and no view of a positive financial result.

Such a situation results in dramatically bad economic results and there is no view of their improvement, and the debts of the Shipyard have reached a critical level.

The worst part, however, is that neither the Board of Shipyard nor the persons acting on behalf of its dominant shareholder have any real idea of remedying this situation, and the continuing conflicts in this group are making the situation worse. Subsequent projects of repair programmes remain on paper, and ideas for sale of the Shipyard's assets and subsequent restructuring of employment are emerging again. The shipyards did not help continuously postpone its acquisition into structures under the Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Shipping".

The open letter was written by trade unionists in late November, when still the Marine Shiprepair Yard of Gryfia was part of the Polish Armed Forces Group, supervised by MON (PGZ took over Gryfia in April 2016). However, even before the end of the year, the joint-stock company Fund for the Development of Companies (under the supervision of the Ministry of Maritime Economy) purchased from the company MS Association of Investment Funds of SSN and Gryfia.

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When asked about the situation in the Marine Shiprepair Yard of Gryfia and about the allegations made by politicians of the Civic Platform (e.g. about "successful actions" and "unprofitableness"), Minister Marek Grobarczyk said:

– Earlier, the shipyard had simply been liquidated, so I don't understand what these politicians are referring to, and what they are trying to confabulate. But this is inscribed in a scenario of the PO party, which has done something extraordinary on a European scale, that is, simply liquidated the shipbuilding industry," said Minister Marek Grobarczyk, and noted that the reconstruction of the shipbuilding industry "is not easy".

According to Grobarczyk, a strategy for the shipbuilding industry will be presented by the end of January, over which supervision has been taken over by the Fund for the Development of Companies, namely the SSN and the Marine Shipbuilding of Gryfia. The Minister stressed that the acquisition of these companies by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs allows synergies to be generated.

On the other hand, on the question of the design of a passenger-passenger ferry for the Polish Baltic Shipping, whose keel was laid out loudly in 2016, Minister Marek Grobarczyk said:

– Even then, we said that this is an element of the symbolic position of the keel. "He added that this was intended to clearly focus financial assets primarily on the implementation of this investment. – On the other hand, this keel will be an integral part of the new ferry. And here I want to assure everyone that this ferry simply insurrection," added Marek Grobarczyk. The minister confirmed that the ferry project would be presented at the end of January and the unit itself would be ready at the turn of 2021/2022.

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Minister also stressed that the reconstruction of Polish shipowners' fleets requires the construction of ten ferrys. According to Mark Grobaryczyk, this is a market that needs to be used.

– I have no doubt about this investment, but the reconstruction of the shipbuilding industry is not easy," said the head of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs.

– Before our governments, there was a policy of simply stealing this industry. It's all been divided, it was supposed to go to specific people. Under the motto of outsourcing, assets were transferred, subcontractors were created. It was worth everything, but not the shipyard – Minister Marek Grobkarczyk said on Radio Szczecin.

Source: Radio Szczecin.