Yards hit rocks

Russian owners failing to collect two reefer vessels has triggered the financial problems at Arhus Flydedok. The yard has four chemical tankers on the orderbook, and is currently negotiating with its bankers to try to overcome the problems.

The Italian government has put Inma up for sale with a deadline of early April for bidders to declare an interest. As with Danyard and ACH, Inma has encountered problems building chemical tankers for Stolt.

Japanese yards have seen export orders almost halved in this financial year, and Mitsui Engineering had cut the pay of its workers by 10 per cent for 1999 and announced job cuts (although probably not at the shipyard).

HDWÕs parent Preussag will sell half of the yardsÕ shares to Deutsche Babcock.