Brazilian shipbuilder wants stronger maritime ties

Rio de Janeiro-based AMEC Kromav, specialist company for shipbuilding and offshore activities, is urging the Russian industry to take full advantage of Brazil’s multi-billion dollar offshore industry opportunities.

In a comprehensive presentation at NEVA in St Petersburg, Rosalo Sales, director of business development & strategic planning at AMEC Kromav, told delegates that the Petrobras business plan 2013-2017 had scheduled investments of more than US $230 billion in Brazil (95%) and $11.7 billion (5%) overseas, with opportunities for annual contracts worth $28.4 billion alone in Brazil.

“The current oil tanker fleet must go through a $101 billion or $14.2 billion per annum modernization program by 2020, at which time Petrobras is scheduled to double oil production to 4.2 million bo/d,” Sales said. “This will cater for future demand for 49 tankers,196 platform support vessels, 38 offshore exploration and production units, 28 drill ships and ancillary equipment.”

Sales revealed that 26 yards in Brazil currently had steel processing capacity of 600,000 tons a year, and work on 11 yards to double capacity was in progress.

“Brazil offers offshore industry experience, large demand for ships and offshore units and needs qualified manpower and partnerships in construction and engineering,” Sales said. “Russia offers high experience in ship design, high quality equipment and qualified manpower to support the shipbuilding industry.Looking at what both countries need and have to offer, we firmly believe that Brazil and Russia will profit from trading what is needed and what may be offered.”

The NEVA program was centred on a host of key issues this year ranging from the use of LNG as fuel and developments in marine technology to port optimisation, manpower requirements, vessel design and the challenges of Arctic shipping.

In a keynote speech, Viktor Olersky, deputy minister of transport of the Russian Federation and deputy chairman of Marine Council of the Russian Federation Government addressed the status and prospects of Russia’s marine transportation system and warned of the particular need for financing vehicles and shipyard capacity.

Joseph Westwood-Booth, senior deputy director, Sub-Division for Marine Technology and cargoes at the International Maritime Organization, outlined latest developments with particular reference to the aftermath of theCosta Concordia incident and representatives of the economic development agency of the German state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania joined forces with suppliers and entrepreneurs for a presentation entitled ‘Invest in MV’.

“This year NEVA became the platform for organising the national pavilion of The Netherlands under the framework of the ‘International Year of The Netherlands in Russia 2013’ and continued to serve as a forum for cooperation in the development of marine infrastructure and logistics,” said Dimitri Rogozin, Deputy Prime Minister and president, the Maritime Collegium of the Russian Federation.

“One should stress the participation of Russia’s maritime market leaders, United Shipbuilding Corp, Sovcomflot, the Russian Register and Krylov State Research Centre,” Rogozin said. “The NEVA exhibition promotes breakthrough technologies and attracts investment to commercial shipbuilding and other Russian industries.”

 “This year’s program has been particularly well-received by exhibitors and visitors and as the exhibition came to a close professional visitors were still walking around seeking specialist contacts for future cooperation and looking towards the next event which takes place September 22 to 25, 2015”, said Roderick Keay, general director of Dolphin Exhibitions.

More than 17,000 professional visitors and over 1,000 exhibiting companies gathered in St Petersburg’s Lenexpo complex for NEVA. National pavilions were organized by Germany, China, The Netherlands, Denmark, South Korea, the United Kingdom, France and Finland. The list of attendees includes executives from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and leading classification societies including American Bureau of Shipping and Det Norske Veritas.

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