Loss Of Navy Tender Worsens Crisis In Pernambuco’s Shipbuilding Industry

Pernambuco Shipyards Are Without Work and Reducing Their Workforce, Prospects Are for Few Orders in the Coming Years

The recent defeat of the Vard Promar Shipyard in Pernambuco (which was the shipyard builder for the “FLV” Consortium formed by the Italians Ficantieri and Leonardo shipyard) worsened the situation of the naval industry in the state.
The lack of orders from the Atlântico Sul Shipyard (EAS) further contributes to the chaos in the sector and there are even risks of shipyard closures, which is causing serious concerns among the Metallurgists Union of Pernambuco (Sindmetal-PE).

According to the president of Sindmetal-PE, Henrique Gomes, last week there were at least 40 layoffs at Atlântico Sul (EAS) and another 900 could occur between the end of May and beginning of June.

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The union leader emphasizes that Vard Promar and Atlântico Sul (EAS) have already employed around 12,700 workers when they were operating at full capacity. It’s worth remembering that EAS delivered the oil tanker “Garrincha” last week, the penultimate vessel of Promef, and that this scenario is expected to worsen after the delivery of the last one, the oil tanker “Portinari”.

Fat Jobs

In the heyday of shipbuilding in Pernambuco, EAS alone had 11,000 employees in 2011, while Vard Promar had 1,700 workers between 2015 and 2016.
Nowadays, EAS has 1,200 people working and Vard Promar only 90, but if the layoffs at EAS are confirmed, it may end up with only 125 employees.

EAS is negotiating the construction of two container ships, and if the contract materializes, there may be new hires in December.

The lack of orders for shipyards impacts the entire supply chain and the creation of indirect jobs, and according to the acting president of the Federation of Industries of the State of Pernambuco (FIEPE), Alexandre Valença, the federal government imposes many requirements on local companies that must meet numerous criteria to become suppliers in the sector, which has raised production costs.
He even had to shut down a company that supplied 1,200 tons of sub-blocks to EAS, resulting in the layoff of 200 people.

Regarding Vard Promar, the company president, Guilherme Coelho, stated that the Italian Ficantieri, owner of the Brazilian shipyard, despite having lost the bid for the construction of corvettes, will remain in Brazil, including keeping an eye on a future bidding process by the Navy to build an Antarctic vessel.

Experts assure that the crisis in shipbuilding is global, as even China and South Korea are closing shipyards, but in Brazil, it is worse due to the political and economic crisis and it has always been high-risk to rely solely on orders from Petrobras.

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