The new Barreras Shipyard is reassembled with three ships under construction
The company, now called Ría de Vigo, works on an oceanographic vessel, a fishing vessel and a patrol boat
Ría de Vigo - the old Barreras shipyard, which Armón bought - has three vessels under construction that ensure activity for several years. From Beiramar the work of one of the ships is visible, an oceanographic for the Icelandic Marine Research Institute with a cost of 33.5 million euros.
The company has two other contracts in force, which are a patrol boat for the Civil Guard and a fishing boat for the Vigo shipowner Copemar. The latter is a trawler for the South Atlantic Squid joint venture, formed between the Galician fishing company and its Falkland Islands partner Beauchene Fishing. The 70-meter-long freezer vessel will be dedicated to capturing squid in Falkland waters, and will replace the 'Baffin Bay', which suffered a fire and sank in the Vigo port in 2020.
The vessel for the Maritime Service of the Civil Guard (SEMAR), which has a cost of 35 million euros, is scheduled to be delivered in 2025 and will be a milestone for the Spanish armed institute as it is the largest vessel in its fleet, 82-meters-long.
Ría de Vigo has started a little over a year ago and its first contract was the construction of a fishing boat for a Cooke group Argentine subsidiary that was delivered this summer.
In the old Barreras shipyard facilities, work is also being done on cutting steel blocks for an oceanographic ship for Holland, although this ship will be assembled in Armón, which these days began construction and was attended by a delegation from the Royal Dutch Institute for Marine Research (NIOZ). The ship, costing 70 million euros, will be 80 meters long and will be the jewel in the crown of the Dutch public body.
Oceanographics
Armón factory facilities in Vigo is building two other oceanographics, one for New Zealand and another for the CSIC-IEO of Spain, which is already afloat. It is Odón de Buen, one of the most advanced scientific research ships in the world. She measures 84.3-meters-long, and the Ministry of Science invested 85 million euros in the new jewel in the crown of the Spanish scientific fleet.
Armón was also awarded a contract by the Regional Fisheries Directorate of the Azores Islands to build a 40-meter-long oceanographic survey for an amount of 20 million euros that could be transferred to Vigo’s Bay.
Both shipbuilding factories share facilities since a year ago, the old Aucosa facilities in Beiramar that physically separated Armón from the old Barreras was demolished, giving rise to the largest private shipyard in Spain.
The sector slows down due to the lack of qualified employment
The Society for the Study of Maritime Resources (Soermar) warns of the slowdown in shipbuilding in Spain due to the shortage of professional profiles, among which are naval mechanics, assemblers, boilermakers, draftsmen, 3D and 4D designers, architects’ naval officers or project managers, among others.
The shipbuilding industry is one of the sectors with the greatest shortage of qualified labour force in our country and in 2030 it is expected that 40% of current workers will retire, according to data managed by Soermar, which warns of the need for the sector to attract qualified digital talent with profiles linked to emerging markets such as new fuels, energy efficiency, sustainability, and offshore wind.
'Upskilling Shipbuilding Workforce in Europe' EU project estimates that in the next five years it will be necessary to train around 200,000 people in specific skills to work in the shipbuilding industry.
Source: atlantico.net