Aker Yards warn of dismissals for 700 staff in Finland

Beleaguered Helsinki shipyard likely to bear brunt of job cuts

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The Norwegian-owned international shipbuilding group Aker Yards, the third-largest company in this sector worldwide, announced on Tuesday that it is to begin the anticipated restructuring of its operations in Finland, merging the three yards into a single organisation.
      Formal negotiations with employee representatives in Helsinki, Turku, and Rauma will go ahead from mid-November, and the forecast is for job losses of around 700 persons, with Helsinki bearing the brunt of the reductions.
      Roughly half of the dismissals will be in Helsinki, where a good many of the total workforce of 1,250 are already laid off or working temporarily on contracts in Turku. Discussions in Rauma will concern around 90 workers, and a further 200 jobs are in jeopardy in Turku itself.
     
The announcement on Tuesday came as no surprise to staff in Helsinki. Chief shop steward Mikko Mielonen observed that the Kvaerner Masa-Yards shipyard's order books have never been in such poor shape as they are at present.
      The current orders in the capital are for one ice-breaking service vessel and a container ship for Arctic waters, to be completed in 2006. Mielonen noted that if the anticipated redundancies go through, Helsinki will no longer have the capacity to build passenger ships, which have become a familiar sight on the stocks and in the fitting-out basin in Hietalahti.
      The situation in Turku and at Aker Finnyards in Rauma is somewhat better. Kvaerner Masa-Yards in Turku has two cruise liners and a passenger ferry on order, and a contract to lengthen an existing cruise vessel, while the Rauma yard recently delivered a cruise vessel for Birka Line and is working on a passenger ship for Tallink. The Rauma shipyard also has orders for the Finnish Navy and a provisional agreement to build three container vessels.
     
According to the employers, the job-cuts are a necessary means to improving competitiveness and efficiency as the three Finnish yards are merged next year under the Aker Finnyards banner.
      Last year Aker Yards carried out similar downsizing at its German yards and negotiations for reductions are currently ongoing in Norway. Aker has 13 shipyards in four European countries and in Brazil, and employs a total of around 14,000 people.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Kvaerner Masa-Yards pick up huge order for luxury cruise liner (8.9.2004)

Links:
  Aker Yards
  Aker Yards Press Statement, November 9th
  Kvaerner Masa-Yards

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