New records for European shipyards

In 2006, production at the European shipyards rose by 20 per cent. The orderbook increased by 15 per cent to record-high 17 million compensated gross tons. According to the annual report from Community of European Shipyards’ Association (CESA), European yards delivered 14 per cent of all newbuildings in 2006, giving Europe a fourth place behind South Korea, Japan and China. Turnover increased by a staggering 43 per cent to close to EUR 13 billion. Only South Korea beats that. CESA shipyards has a total work force of close to 140,000 people.