Nordic Yards mulls building shipyard in Russia
WISMAR, Germany. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Nordic Yards is considering building a production facility in Russia, the owner of the shipbuilder, Vitaly Yusufov told reporters on Thursday.
"We will of course consider the possibility of building such a facility, since the trend toward increasing localization is such that the longer, the higher by year the percentage of necessary localization. We expect, and this is evident from the practice of holding tenders, that tender documents in our country will define requirements for localization. But in order to participate in tenders, we have to prove the capabilities of production," Yusufov said.
He said a site has not been selected yet, but an analysis is underway for the location of the future facility. The company is considering the "Baltic basin, and the Far East and around Vladivostok," Yusufov said.
He also said Nordic Yards might bid at numerous tenders with Russian partners. "We are a Russian company with shipyards in Germany and we don't feel any constraints on bidding at tenders," he said.
Yusufov bought Nordic Yards when it was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2009 for 40.5 million euro. The company currently has three yards in Germany - in Wismar; Waremnunde, where cruise ships and ice-class vessels are produced, some of them for MMC Norilsk Nickel ; and in Stralsund, where ships for cargo such as automobiles are built.