Specialist Brazilian Shipbuilder Urges Russian Industry to Strengthen Maritime Ties

AMEC Kromav, the Rio de Janeiro-headquartered specialist company for shipbuilding and offshore activities, has urged Russian industry to take full advantage of Brazil’s multi-billion dollar offshore industry opportunities.

In a comprehensive presentation at NEVA in St Petersburg, Rosalo Sales, Director of Business Development & Strategic Planning at AMEC Kromav told delegates that the Petrobras Business Plan 2013-2017 had scheduled investments of more than $230 billion in Brazil (95%) and $11.7 billion (5%) overseas, with opportunities for annual contracts worth $28.4 billion alone in Brazil.

“The current oil tanker fleet must go through a $101 billion or $14.2 billion per annum modernisation programme by 2020, at which time Petrobras is scheduled to double oil production to 4.2 million bpd,” Mr Sales told delegates.

“This will cater for future demand for 49 tankers, 196 platform support vessels, 38 offshore exploration and production units, 28 drill ships and ancillary equipment,” he added.

Mr Sales revealed that 26 yards in Brazil currently had steel processing capacity of 600,000 tons a year and that work on 11 yards to double capacity was in progress.

“Brazil offers offshore industry experience, large demand for ships and offshore units and needs qualified manpower and partnerships in construction and engineering,” Mr Sales said. “Russia offers high experience in ship design, high quality equipment and qualified manpower to support the shipbuilding industry.

“Looking at what both countries need and have to offer, we firmly believe that Brazil and Russia will profit from trading what is needed and what may be offered.”

The NEVA programme this year centred on a host of key issues ranging from the use of LNG as fuel and developments in marine technology to port optimisation, manpower requirements, vessel design and the challenges of Arctic shipping.

In a keynote speech, Viktor Olersky, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation and Deputy Chairman of Marine Council of the Russian Federation Government addressed the status and prospects of Russia’s marine transportation system and warned of the particular need for financing vehicles and shipyard capacity.

Joseph Westwood-Booth Senior Deputy Director, Sub-Division for Marine Technology and cargoes at the International Maritime Organization outlined latest developments with particular reference to the aftermath of the Costa Concordia incident and representatives of the economic development agency of the German state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania joined forces with suppliers and entrepreneurs  for a presentation entitled ‘Invest in MV’.

“This year NEVA became the platform for organising the national pavilion of The Netherlands under the framework of the ‘International Year of The Netherlands in Russia 2013’ and continued to serve as a forum for cooperation in the development of marine infrastructure and logistics,” said Dimitri Rogozin, Deputy Prime Minister and President, the Maritime Collegium of the Russian Federation.

“One should stress the participation of Russia’s maritime market leaders, United Shipbuilding Corporation, Sovcomflot, the Russian Register and Krylov State Research Centre. The NEVA exhibition promotes breakthrough technologies and attracts investment to commercial shipbuilding and other Russian industries.”

Roderick Keay,  General Director of Dolphin Exhibitions, the event organiser,  said: “This year’s programme has been particularly well-received by exhibitors and visitors and as the exhibition came to a close professional visitors were still walking around seeking specialist contacts for future cooperation and looking towards the next event which takes place from 22 to 25 September 2015.”

More than 17,000 professional visitors and over 1,000 exhibiting companies gathered in St Petersburg’s Lenexpo complex for NEVA. National pavilions were organised by Germany, China, The Netherlands, Denmark, South Korea, the United Kingdom, France and Finland. The list of attendees includes executives from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and leading classification societies including American Bureau of Shipping and Det Norske Veritas.