Ukrainian Donbas invests in the Polish shipbuilder

Gdynia Shipyard president Kazimierz Smolinski has told local press that he no longer believes an agreement will be reached with Ukrainian steel concern Donbas over investment in the ailing Polish shipbuilder. Following the withdrawal of Israeli ship owner Rami Ungar, there now seems little hope that agreement can be reached before the end-June deadline given to Brussels by Warsaw. Gdynia Shipyard is the largest employer in the Gdansk/Pomerania region, with 6,500 workers but it is saddled with overdue debt amounting to about PLN500M ($167M) covering tax and social security payments. Unless this debt is paid the shipbuilder will be declared bankrupt. Observers say Donbas – which has exclusive rights to negotiations until 26 February, but which seems only to be interested in Gdansk Shipyard – is hoping that Warsaw will pump PLN1.2Bn into modernising the company as well as covering the shipbuilders’ debt, in line with what was agreed in former-East Germany. Meanwhile Gdynia’s managers are expected to accept a Brussels proposal to reduce capacity by closing the smaller of the yard’s two drydocks, leaving it with capacity enough to delivery 12 ships a year.