Dock industry|Petri Peltonen, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor and Economic Affairs, confirms that a “symmetrical financing solution” was negotiated for the shipyard company in the spring. However, according to the chairman of the board of RMC, the support has not been paid.
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In the spring, the Finnish government decided on capital support for the Rauma shipyard company.
The support decision was related to negotiations with an Australian customer.
RMC’s financial situation has improved and it has built two new car ferries for the Tasmanian state-owned shipping company.
Australian ABC News says that the Finnish state would have supported Rauma’s shipyard company RMC with 80 million Australian dollars, or about 50 million euros. In addition, the state would have committed to cover the shipyard’s future financing needs.
ABC’s news was reported first in Finland Turku Sanomat.
The alleged support decision would be related to the negotiations that started last fall with the Australian customer. According to ABC, RMC would have asked TT-line, which ordered the two ships, an additional price of 50 million euros, or about 80 million Australian dollars, in order to have the ships built.
In the same According to ABC, the state of Finland, which is a shareholder of the shipyard, or in practice the country’s government, would have decided to grant the shipyard company the same amount of support and, in addition, guarantees to cover the future financing needs of the shipyard.
HS reached the Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Labor and Economy Petri Peltonenwhich confirms that a financing agreement was negotiated for the shipyard in the spring, where the parties were the ship’s customer and supplier, as well as the owners of both.
The state, through the capital investor Tes, is the largest individual owner of RMC.
“I can’t confirm the amounts, but I can say that we have negotiated a commercial financing agreement that is symmetrical,” says Peltonen.
In general, symmetry means that both parties commit to the same amounts.
of RMC the chairman of the board Stig Gustavson does not take a stand on the government’s decisions, but he nevertheless says that capital support has not been paid to the shipyard.
“50 million euros from Australia is correct. But I cannot comment on whether the state has decided on support. You have to ask the state about that. I can say that the support has not been paid”, says Gustavson.
According to Gustavson, the shipyard’s financial situation has been difficult, but now it has improved.
“Orders were accepted at a fixed price before the corona and the war. Marine technical inflation has been 30 percent in these years. That’s why we had to start price negotiations again,” says Gustavson.
From time to time it has also been difficult to get materials, which has delayed construction. Now the shipyard company’s financial situation has clearly improved.
“We did positive ebitda result for the first time in the second quarter. It means we are no longer leaking money.”
In Finnish, Ebitda is EBITDA, i.e. profit before financial expenses, taxes and depreciation.
In return for the aid decision, the ship’s customer, in practice the state of Tasmania, agreed to waive the delay fines included in the original contract.
The agreement therefore seems quite advantageous from the point of view of RMC and the Finnish government. The customer paid the additional price and waived the late payment penalty. The Finnish government promised support, which it has not paid, at least so far.
The shipyard the situation is of interest in Australia because RMC is building two new Spirit of Tasmania car ferries for the TT-Line shipping company owned by the state of Tasmania.
According to Gustavson, one of the ships is practically ready and will leave for Tasmania this summer. One of the ships will be handed over to the customer next spring after the ice has left.
“It was already ready before, but they wanted a special coating for the ships that can’t withstand ice,” says Gustavson.
Observation picture of the Spirit of Tasmania car ferry built by the Rauma shipyard company.
About ship orders there has been a heated political debate in Tasmania, which is part of Australia, because the costs of the construction work required by the ships themselves, but above all by the port they use, have swelled.
The ships were originally ordered already in 2017 from the German TSG shipyard, which, however, went bankrupt. After that, RMC got the order.
Finland The state is interested in the shipyard company’s situation because RMC is building four corvette warships for the defense forces. The construction of the first one is already well underway.
The shipyard company RMC was founded in Rauma after STX, which owned the Turku and Rauma shipyards, decided to close the Rauma shipyard in 2013. The Turku shipyard was sold to the German shipyard company of the Meyer family as a minion of the state.
Since then, RMC’s management has changed several times and the organization has been restructured so that the company could implement the demanding warship project. Through Tes, the state has practically become the largest owner of the company.
In addition to the Spirit of Tasmania ships, Rauma has built, among other things, Wasa Line’s new Aurora Botnia car ferry in recent years.
RMC is not the only shipyard company that has run into difficulties in recent years. Shipyards around the world have gone bankrupt and, for example, Meyer’s shipyards in both Germany and Turku have made losses.
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