Lindø admits defeat to Asian shipyards

By on Aug 11, 2009

The Odense Steel Shipyard (Lindø) will discontinue its shipbuilding activities once the yard has fulfilled its contracted orders

Due to the expansion of the yard capacity in low-cost countries in the Far East and, most recently, with China's determined attempts to become the world's biggest shipbuilding nation, the competitive situation for the shipbuilding industry has become increasingly difficult

Regardless of the huge effort to improve the Odense Steel Shipyard's competitiveness with investments in new technology and production streamlining, the yard has not only run up considerable annual deficits but also realises that it is impossible to attract orders that are commercially sound

Once the yard has completed its contracted orders, its shipbuilding activities will cease The current workforce will be continuously downsized to accommodate production

The contracted orders - five bulk carriers, seven ro-ro ships and three frigates - extend to August 2010, November 2011 and February 2012 respectively The first redundancies, which are expected to occur from end-August this year, will hit approximately 175

According to chairman of the board Lars-Erik Brenøe, the Lindø Industrial Services business unit will continue, operating mooring space and cranes, providing steel storage and handling, internal transport of heavy equipment, production of pipes and steel components as well as letting of ocean-going transport barges

As the shipyard's orders are fulfilled, capacity for the Industrial Services unit will increase Effectively, both Lindø Industrial Park and Lindø Industrial Services will have increased capacity to sell to other clients, and Lindø Industrial Services' business areas that are no longer strategically essential may be sold as independent businesses

With the discontinuation of the shipbuilding activities at Lindø, there is no longer a need for ownership of the Lithuanian shipyard, Baltija Shipyard or the design & engineering company UAB Baltic Engineering Centre in Lithuania, and these companies are up for sale