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Indefinite Suspension of Activities at Ipojuca Shipyard in Pernambuco Comes with a Debt of R$ 1 Billion to BNDES
The Atlântico Sul Shipyard (EAS) announced to its shareholders and employees that it is ceasing operations in Ipojuca (PE) indefinitely.
The shipyard’s owners, the Camargo Corrêa and Queiroz Galvão groups, will now try to negotiate debts amounting to R$ 1 billion with the BNDES, its main creditor.
The announcement came just over a month after the Shipyard delivered its last ship, the vessel “Portinari”, the last of the five aframax ordered by Transpetro.
Without revenue from that point onward, the shipyard had already laid off a large part of its workforce in Ipojuca. In 2014, at the height of its existence, EAS had 6,000 direct employees and over 1,000 outsourced workers, but by 2015 had to reduce its staff to 3,600 employees.
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Currently, the shipyard had fewer than 150 workers and the expectation is that only 30 will remain to perform maintenance tasks. Even with improvements in its productivity rates, the Shipyard has still not been able to compete with those in Asia, which still benefit from government subsidies.
The Debts
According to reports, the Atlântico Sul Shipyard has cash reserves of R$ 160 million, and on August 10, a R$ 20 million installment due to BNDES will mature.
The future of the shipyard is uncertain, and even a request for judicial recovery is not ruled out. While negotiating the debts, its owners are also seeking new orders and even potential buyers.
The owners had discussions with Satco, which was interested in acquiring the company, but the talks did not have a satisfactory conclusion.
Another attempt to secure orders was made with cabotage companies, but the uncertainties in the Brazilian shipbuilding industry, which is facing the expectation of the approval or not of a provisional measure that should facilitate the importation of new and used ships, hindered the negotiations.
The Atlântico Sul Shipyard was established in 2005 and has since accumulated losses of over R$ 1 billion. In 2018, EAS reported a net loss of R$ 70.1 million, and currently, the shipyard had fewer than 150 workers, with the expectation that only 30 will remain for maintenance tasks.
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