Bids closed for Malta Shipyards

The Maltese government’s Privatisation Unit has received bids for all the 4 units of Malta Shipyards. The call for bids closed on Thursday and, in all, 23 companies had shown interest and collected the documents, down from almost twice the number at the earlier “expressions of interest” stage.

There were 14 bids in all, three for Malta Shipyards, three for Marsa Shiprepair, three for Manoel Island Yacht Yard and five for Malta Super Yacht Services. The companies involved are European and Asian and none of the bidders were interested in all 4 units.

The government first announced the privatisation of the shipyards last June and it then issued early retirement schemes to whittle down the workforce, which were taken up by 1,567 workers, 96% of the total. This means that the remaining 50 will be transferred to the new owners. However, 700 are still working on outstanding contracts at the ‘yard.

The bids will now be analysed by the Privatisation Unit, which will choose the preferred bidder/s and start negotiations.