Dismembered shipyard rakes in €8.7 million

The Malta Shipyards have reported a turnover of €8.7 million in the last year, even if the company's privatisation process appears to have stalled.

The Investments Ministry said the company still employs 362 workers and, since September last year, no less than 76 ships were serviced at the Cospicua ship repair facility.

Despite confirming the repair yard made a turnover of €8,737,000, the ministry declined to say whether it made a profit or loss.

"In the current stage of the privatisation process it is felt inappropriate to divulge any financial results on the performance of the shipyards today," a ministry spokesman told The Sunday Times.

The company was split into four separate units for privatisation purposes, but the government had deemed the offers it received for the ship repair facility as too low. Earlier this year talks with two preferred bidders started separately for the Marsa shipbuilding site and the yacht yard in Manoel Island.

Barely a year ago, the government and the General Workers' Union reached an agreement over early retirement schemes for shipyards employees totalling €58 million.

The agreement was signed after three weeks of mediation by Malta Employers' Association director general Joe Farrugia, who averted an escalation in the confrontation between workers and government that had been brewing all summer.

The government had issued an international call for expressions of interest in Malta Shipyards in August last year and the offer had to close on September 15 but was eventually stretched to the beginning of this year.

At the same time it also launched early retirement schemes in an effort to reduce the 1,627-strong workforce to around 700.

The retirement schemes were improved by a further €9 million after sustained protests by employees culminating in an agreement between the GWU and government.

The privatisation of the dockyard was prompted by the fact that State subsidies had to end on December 31 of last year in line with Malta's EU accession agreement.

With privatisation of the shipyards nowhere in sight yet the future of the docks and the drastically reduced workforce is anything but clear.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com