A decision by an Athens first-instance court that approved the appointment of a special administrator for the Skaramangas shipyards paved the way for the restructuring of the company, economy ministry officials said on Thursday.
The officials said that the ministry, and Deputy Economy Minister Stergios Pitsiorlas in particular, won a strategically important victory in the effort to plan the next day for the largest shipyard unit in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Pitsiorlas recently said that the special administrator will split the shipyard into two parts, one commercial and the other military, complete an asset evaluation conducted over a period of 12 months, before launching an international tender.
- Cosco has already expressed interest in the fifth dock of the shipyard. For the military section, the new investor must be from a western country and NATO member-state.
Arrears of Skaramangas shipyard to the state amount 667 million euros incl illegal state subsidies. Debts to a bank are as high as 24 million euros.
The commercial part of the shipyard remains inactive since 2011, the defense part is operated by the Greek Navy.
Skaramangas shipyard (Hellenic Shipyard) was bought in 2002 by a group of German investors under the industrial leadership of the German shipyard Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), later a subsidiary of the German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. However, sector problems have led to a progressive decline of the shipyard. The number of employees was reduced to 1,300 in 2009 (from about 6,200 in 1975) after serious economic problems. On March 1, 2010, an agreement was reached to sell 75.1% of the company to Abu Dhabi Mar.
