Helsinki shipyard to focus on assembling car ferries
Aker Finnyards production to focus on Turku
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The Hietalahti shipyard in Helsinki appears to be getting out of the business of building massive luxury cruise liners. The shipbuilder Aker Finnyards is also moving its head offices to Turku, and the shipyard in that city is already the focal point of the company's production.
The Helsinki facility is to focus on the assembly of smaller passenger-car ferries, and the shipyard, which is one of the three that the company runs in Finland, now accounts for less than one tenth of the company's production.
Aker Finnyards CEO Yrjö Julin sees the changes as a solution for the future of the Helsinki shipyard.
However, he also notes that the shipyard, which had previously specialised in the construction of cruise ships, must adapt and prove itself to be a competitive builder of passenger and car ferries.
Negotiations with personnel on the changes are to begin in Helsinki.
The first stages of building ships - the manufacture of large steel components - has already left Helsinki. In the future the Helsinki shipyard will increasingly focus on assembly.
Julin will not say how many people will have to go. The Helsinki shipyard currently employs 750 people.
Julin is convinced that there is a healthy market for car ferries.
"Ten to fifteen car ferries are ordered every year. The number will increase as the need for transportation increases. We are number two in the world in the field, and we have no intention of giving up our position", he says.
The Carnival Miracle, which was delivered in February last year, is the last cruise ship to be built in Hietalahti. Last spring an order for cruise liners of the Panamax class was cancelled, and all orders after that have been for car ferries.
The Panamax class, which are built so that they can pass through the Panama Canal, is the largest class of ships that will fit in the Helsinki shipyard.
Ships of the Freedom class are twice the size of the Panamax vessels.
"Cruise ships have grown out of Helsinki's framework. They are larger, and more economical units. They accommodate more people, and they can be packed with more attractions", Julin says.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 31.8.2005 - TODAY |
 Helsinki shipyard to focus on assembling car ferries |
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