FBMA Marine fighting to stay afloat

UK-operated shipbuilder FBMA Marine in Cebu, Philippines has “ceased operations”, although it is still looking for new orders to stay in business. “We have stopped operations, but we have not closed down,” Doug Border, president and chief operating officer of FBMA said.

Border said the yard had no orders on hand at present and it was proving very difficult to find any new work. The yard delivered its last two vessels under construction, a pair of ferries for Wightlink in the UK, in July and since then the yard has had no work. The yard had been hoping to gain work from two customers it was in negotiations with. However, the potential clients have put order plans on hold due to the current economic conditions.

FBMA is a builder of passenger ferries and specialised, fast vessels and started operations in Cebu in 1997. It is managed by UK-based FBMA and is part of the Philippines conglomerate Aboitiz group, which is one of the country’s largest domestic shipowners and also involved in a number of shipyard ventures.

The yard, which cut 40% of its then-remaining workforce of 198 in June, is now cutting 90% of its staff, which originally totalled around 300. Border said the company was looking at deploying its staff to other parts of the Aboitiz group.

Aboitiz is looking to redeploy some of the shipyard workers to its joint venture with Japan’s Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Cebu, which specialises in the building of dry bulk vessels.

Keppel Shipyard has also downsized its Cebu yard, Keppel Cebu, this year, laying-off or redeploying about half its workforce of 400. Keppel Cebu is exiting the shiprepair industry and focusing on specialised shipbuilding work.