Smart Maritime Group (SMG) has begun the construction of two outfitted hulls of chemical tankers for the Dutch VEKA Shipbuilding WT B.V.
Today, Kherson Shipyard of SMG held the ceremony of laying the keel for the first of the two vessels.
According to the contract, SMG will manufacture two outfitted hulls, will paint them, will install vessel's general piping systems, and will fit out the deck. The second vessel will be built at Nikolaev Shipyard of SMG.
The term of the construction will be 11.5 months per one hull.
The value of the contract will be over UAH 145 million.
"This is indeed an important event for the Ukrainian shipbuilding as it is the first foreign contract in the industry since 2013. We have made great efforts to convince the customer, to convince the Ukrainian and European banks to finance this project. Today, we have good prospects both in the production process and for concluding new contracts" said Vasiliy Fedin, CEO of SMG.
In his turn, Mr Wout van Wijnen, the director of VEKA Group B.V., underlined that: "We are pleased with the opportunity to continue cooperation with Smart Maritime Group. Our previous shipbuilding experience at SMG's shipyard was positive one. The level of responsibility and qualification of SMG's staff earned our respect. We appreciate reliability of our Ukrainian partner and trust it in implementation of this project."
The ceremony was attended by hundreds of citizens, the mayor of Kherson Vladimir Mikolayenko, representatives of VEKA Shipbuilding WT B.V., representatives of regional state authorities, leading companies of the region, as well as the veteran organization of Kherson Shipyard.
The history of successful partnership between SMG and VEKA Group numbers more than 10 years. Over this time SMG built 8 chemical tanker hulls for VEKA. In total, 12 vessels of the same class were built for the Dutch market.
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Smart Maritime Group (SMG) is the largest shipbuilding holding company in Ukraine combining two shipyards – in Nikolaev and Kherson cities.
On 1 September 2017, wages of hull assemblers of metal vessels, welders and marine vessel pipe fitters were increased by 35% and now stand at UAH 8,000 to 26,000 for a full working month.
VEKA Shipbuilding B.V. is part of VEKA Group Shipbuilding Company headquartered in Werkendam (the Netherlands). The group was founded in 1988. The company specializes in the construction and maintenance of inland navigation vessels. The company's reference list includes double-hulled chemical tankers and bunker tankers, LPG tankers, container ships, passenger ships and other types of vessels. VEKA operates four shipyards in the Netherlands: in Lemmer, Heusden, Rotterdam and Werkendam, as well as shipyards in Eastern Europe and, in part, in Asia.