Bleak outlook for Polish yards

The sale of two struggling Polish shipyards to Qatari investors has failed after the potential buyers declined to pay up within the time period agreed with the European Commission, Poland’s treasury minister has said.

Neither a private client with Qatar roots, identified by Polish authorities as Stichting Particulier Fonds Greenrights, nor the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a state body, transferred money by the deadline of 31 August, treasury minister Aleksander Grad told reporters in Warsaw.

“We admit that the sale of the assets belonging to the Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards has come to an end,” the minister said.

Poland has asked the EC to agree to a new procedure for the sale of the Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards and expects to get a green light from the body.

“These shipyards have already stopped working and are not producing ships any more. They have no impact on the maritime construction market,” Grad said.

The two Baltic Sea yards are facing bankruptcy, grim news for their 8,000 workers who have been in limbo for months.