United Shipbuilding Corporation (OSK) will not be able to arrange production of large capacity vessels without state investments, Vladimir Aleksandrov, Director General of Admiralty Shipyards (St. Petersburg, part OSK) told journalists. According to him, Russia’s largest shipyards are able to build vessels of up to 100,000 tonnes in capacity while new facilities are required to build larger vessels.
“I think it is a state matter … Everybody says it is OSK to build such shipyards, it is to find money but I think it is not a promising way. The state should certainly solve this issue. Another question is how the government is to return this money. Such shipyards can build for RUR 100-120 bln and with average profitability of 10% in commercial shipbuilding the payback period may last for 6-8 years. A correct approach is as follows: the government helps to arrange this business today and the companies to manage the shipbuilding complex undertake to return this money as such a shipyard exceeds OSK ability,» Vladimir Aleksandrov says.