Palumbo Group has just opened a new site in Costanza, Romania. The group, which runs Malta’s shipyard in Cospicua, is expanding rapidly and this latest acquisition on the banks of the Black Sea comes just one month after it invested more than €10 million in taking over the ailing former Mondomarine facility in Savona, Italy.

“Our strategy is to continue building on optimising our services and remaining a major player to be reckoned with in the Mediterranean,” CEO Antonio Palumbo said. “With the new site in Costanza we are focusing on providing specialised services to the offshore and engineering sectors and equipping them with all they require; a one-stop-shop facility.”

The new project ties in with Palumbo’s existing shipbuilding network and follows on the installation of a floating dock at the group’s shipyard in Tenerife that is specifically intended to handle important works in the field of oil and gas. “Through our site in Costanza we are also planning on entering into agreements with universities to set up a training centre for young graduates seeking to build their expertise in the sector’s aspects of safety, security and engineering,” Mr Palumbo added.

In other expansion plans Palumbo’s Naples Drydocks entered into a €20 million joint venture with La Nuova Meccanica Navale (a company where MSC Cruises has a minority shareholding) to build a massive floating dock. Palumbo Group is projecting that once complete, this floating dock, which is 250 metres long and 50 metres wide, will handle 20 to 25 vessels for ship repair a year.

The group, which was started by Antonio’s father in 1967 as a small carpentry offering support to the ship repair market in Naples, has grown to become the largest centre for maintenance and refitting, with a rapidly expanding network in the Mediterranean.

Today the group is split into two main divisions – commercial shipbuilding and luxury yachts – and owns seven different bases, including the former Malta Drydocks.