Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – Polish government approved of the law on subsidies for some agreements concerning ship construction. In the years 2005-07, PLN 375 m (EUR 92.3 m) will be put aside.
‘It is a relief. If the decisions are notified by the European Commission, shipyards have a chance to survive in the upcoming years’, Andrzej Stachura, Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa CEO said.
The subsidies will be divided in the following way: PLN 110 m this year, PLN 150 m in 2006 and PLN 115 m in 2007. They will be paid for building four types of ships, including those for chemical transport or LNG ships. Stocznia Szczecinska shipyard has big chances to get most subsidies as it focuses on building the chosen types of ships. Subsidies should amount up to 6 percent of the contracts. ‘The funds will be very helpful but they will not compensate fully the strong zloty’, Krzysztof Grabowski from Stocznia Gdynia shipyard commented. Total costs of the possible liquidation of the shipyard branch would amount to PLN 1.2 billion.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.246)Poland/Enterprises/Heavy industry