Spanish shipyards buck the global economic crisis

Shipyards in Spain's Galicia region are defying the global financial crisis, creating hundreds of new jobs as order books fill up, largely by switching to the production of specialised high-technology vessels.

"We are going through a good period which will allow us to stay afloat even if the crisis is affecting other sectors," said José Dominguez, head of development for the shipbuilding industry in the port of Vigo.

The Vigo shipyards have full order books through 2012, some of them until 2014, and some 55 ships under construction.

It is an encouraging sign, in a remote and rugged northwestern region that is to vote on March 1 in elections for a new regional Parliament and which has been otherwise hard hit by the economic crisis affecting Spain as a whole.

Mr Dominguez, who is also financial head of the shipyard of Factorias Vulcano, explained: "Contracts currently being fulfilled were signed in 2006-2007, at the time of the great boom in shipbuilding throughout the world."

"This crisis comes at a time when, unlike other sectors, we already have customers," he said, noting that the "process between the signing of the contract and the completion of the ship can take several years."

Vigo now has nine medium-sized shipyards, all privately owned, producing specialised ships featuring high-technology equipment.

For example, they produce vessels for transporting chemical or toxic products, ships involved in oil exploration or for constructing oil platforms, each costing between €80 million and €130 million.

Others produce luxury yachts.

"Unlike the Koreans, our ships are made-to-measure for our clients," mainly Norwegians, but also Germans and Italians, said Mr Dominguez.

Another Galician shipyard, at the port of Ferrol, which is state-owned, specialises in military vessels, and receives orders from across the world. The shipyards have also reduced their costs.

"Now, like 25 years ago, about 7,000 people work in the Vigo shipyards. The difference is that currently only 750 are permanent employees. The others work under contract," said Mr Dominguez.

About 1,500 jobs were created last year, and 1,000 more could come this year, providing a ray of hope for the many workers in the construction or auto-making sector who have been made unemployed.

"But we don't want to create false hope," said Mr Dominguez. "It's not a question of an automatic transfer of labour, we are looking for qualified workers, if possible with experience in the sector."

Training courses are planned to provide workers for this engine of growth for the Galician economy in a time of global crisis.