The president and CEO of ONEX Shipyards & Technologies and president of the Board of Directors of the Association of Hellenic Shipyards, Panos Xenokostas, referred to the restructuring of the shipbuilding industry during a recent conference.
However, he said that despite state and international support, the Greek Navy shows preference for foreign shipyards, ignoring the capabilities of Greece’s shipyards.
Indicatively, he stated that Greek shipyards can build any ships for the Navy at a 15% lower cost than foreign companies, but the Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff (HNGF) announced that the strategy is based on cooperation with foreign shipyards.
“The data speak for themselves”
According to the CEO of ONEX Shipyards & Technologies, “the Syros Shipyard serves 80-120 ships annually, increasing jobs from 180 to 550. Five years of salaries were paid to employees and 53 out of 78 million euros in debt were covered with private funds. In Elefsis, ONEX brought a shipyard with debts of half a billion euros back into operation securing over 1,500 jobs. It undertook the restructuring of debts with the assistance of the US government, which, changing its legal framework, invested 125 million euros through a state bank in the sustainability of the Greek shipbuilding industry.”
Xenokostas added that despite the political will of the Greek government, ONEX has not even received an invitation to submit proposals from the Navy.
Furthermore, ONEX – according to its CEO – has not even received a response to the official letters it has addressed to the leadership of the Navy, such as the proposal for the construction of the fourth FDI Belharra frigate at a 15% lower cost, while “the recent donation of 100,000 euros for repairs by ONEX was also rejected by the Navy.”
“Despite the absence of substantial support from the Navy, ONEX continues to prove that Greek Shipyards are viable and competitive. If we had relied on the defense industry, we would have gone bankrupt,” Panos Xenokostas stated.
ONEX underlined that it is ready to repair any ship, as long as it is given the opportunity to compete on equal terms with the other European Shipyards.
