The US Congress approved a US International Development Finance Corp (DFC) plan to allocate a $125 million loan to Syros island-based ONEX Shipyards which is working to relaunch Elefsis Shipyard located at Elefsina, west of Piraeus, according to Seatrade.
ONEX has revealed the figure is $23m higher than the funding initially allocated for the funding while the DFC’s board of directors has already completed all internal procedures for approval of the loan from mid-May 2023.
According to an announcement by ONEX, a special law was ratified by the US Congress two years ago with bipartisan support in order to facilitate the loan plan, which marks the first and only, so far, DFC financing towards Greece.
ONEX is the lead investor in the scheme to rejuvenate and upgrade the Elefsina-based yards, increasing the facility’s capacity to being able to work on some 200 vessels annually.
The development comes after the recent signing of Memorandum of an MoU between Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri and Elefsina yard. Marking the signing on the MoU at the Greek yard Fincantieri said the MoUs were signed “with a selection of potential new suppliers, in the context of the high-profile process pursued by the Hellenic Minister of National Defence for the construction of four corvettes and the provision of Integrated Logistic Support (ILS) and In Service Support (ISS).”
Both shipbuilder Fincantieri and other multinationals signed the MoUs, which will “set the basis for defining possible business relationships for specific supplies.” The MoUs were signed with seven Greece-based companies.