After more than a year and a half of break, Smart Maritime Group has started ship repair at the facilities of the Mykolaiv Shipyard. The first “client” after the forced pause was DELTA III, a tugboat built in 2006. Smart Maritime Group (SMG) specialists are performing its scheduled maintenance. The complex of works includes cleaning and painting the ship’s hull, servicing the main mechanisms, in particular the engine and navigation system.

The owner of the tugboat, the company “DELTA TAG” LLC from Mykolaiv, is a regular client of Smart Maritime Group since 2020, ordering ship repair services for its fourth vessel.

“We are used to the high quality of work and professional service that our transport receives here. Due to military threats at sea, we cannot reach other repair assets, and yet we wanted to return to the proven service. So we are glad that the shipyard has resumed its work. It is important to have specialists here, in Ukraine,” said the head of the company, Oleksandr Korenetsky.

In 2021, SMG completed the modernization of 6 ships and repaired 51 vessels and increased revenue by 17% to UAH 440 million. But in 2022, due to the full-scale Russian invasion, the company was forced to terminate previously concluded contracts, in particular for the construction of two hulls for a company from Holland, a fully equipped tugboat for a Ukrainian customer, and agreements for the manufacture of metal structures.

The Kherson shipyard was under occupation, outside the company's control, but even after its liberation, the production facilities are under constant shelling, which makes it impossible to resume work. Therefore, shipbuilders can only work at the shipyard in Mykolaiv. “The Ukrainian sea is dangerous, so we cannot resume shipbuilding work, our foreign customers simply cannot reach us safely. But the resumption of repairs is already a good sign. Ukrainian business must work. This is a matter of employment, taxes, and economic sustainability. Moreover, shipbuilding is a strategically important industry for the country. And although we are a private business, we understand all the responsibility. And we are grateful to the clients who return to us despite all external circumstances. We are sure that this is only the beginning,” said Dmytro Krasnikov, CEO of Smart Maritime Group.

Additional difficulties have befallen the business due to the state’s pressure on Smart Holding. The imperfect sanctions policy has blocked the work of the Holding’s most profitable, gas business, which makes it impossible to support other areas of investment of the company, which suffer losses – physical and economic – during the war. Also, one-sided media coverage of the situation around the Holding undermines the reputation, including that of shipbuilders, which may affect future contracts. Reference: Smart Maritime Group is part of the Smart Holding investment and industrial group. The company’s capacities include the Kherson and Mykolaiv shipyards. Before the war, SMG had about 800 full-time employees and more than 200 in contractor companies. Despite the full-scale war and the forced suspension of work, SMG employees received their salaries throughout 2022, and the workers of the Kherson Shipyard, who were forced to leave Kherson, worrying about their safety and the safety of their families before the counterattack, received severance payments.

During the full-scale war, SMG actively helps the regions of its presence. In particular, after the liberation of Kherson, together with Smart Holding, they delivered ambulances to the city, transferred special equipment to the State Emergency Service to combat the consequences of the terrorist attack at the Kakhovka HPP, helped restore power supply in Kherson, and continue to supply products to residents of the affected areas.