LoI STX Europe & PJMR To Expand In Brazil
To meet the growing market in Brazil, STX Europe will expand its shipbuilding capacity for offshore & specialised vessels by setting up a new shipyard. The yard will be located in Fortaleza, in the Ceará state of Brazil. Together with its Brazilian partner, the equity holding and ventures management company PJMR, STX Norway Offshore AS t intends to invest approx USD 100 million over a period of three years.
The project is expected to benefit from domestic financing on favourable terms, supported by governmental resources. The production capacity is estimated to be approx 20.000 t of steel per year. The total yard area is 320,000 square meters. Production is planned to start within two years. The new shipyard will have about 1500 employees in addition to subcontractors.
Roy Reite, President of STX Europe’s Offshore & Specialized Vessels business area: “The project is of strategic importance for our business area. The new shipyard will strengthen our ability to serve our clients in Brazil with increased capacity and capability. The new yard in Ceará aims to serve the growing Brazilian oil and gas market by supplying various types of vessels as offshore & specialized vessels and LPG carriers. We look forward to continuing the good cooperation with our clients and partners in Brazil.”
STX Europe entered the Brazilian market ten years ago, and has by continuous effort and excellent cooperation with its local partners PJMR developed a strong position to meet the demanding requirements of the oil and gas industry in Brazil. STX Europe has since the acquisition of the Niteroi shipyard in 2001 successfully delivered more than twenty vessels in the range from platform supply vessels to anchor handling tug supply vessels, ROV and pipelaying construction vessels. The yard has in the last few months received orders for three new advanced PSV offshore vessels, and has now eight vessels in the backlog for delivery up to 2013.