Davie yard on the up

Davie Yards Inc. in Canada said that the former Davie Shipbuilding complex it took over in Lévis early last year now boasts a complement of 900 and the workforce will rise further this year as more orders come in.

Norwegian-controlled Davie, which went public with a $47-million initial public offering in February, bought the bankrupt Davie Shipbuilding yards across the river from Quebec City to get capacity to meet burgeoning demand for large all-purpose offshore supply and service vessels from the world oil industry.

The old Davie had 15 employees when the Norwegians took over and the build-up in workforce has been unprecedented in the long struggling Canadian shipbuilding industry.

Davie Yards now has an order backlog worth almost $600 million including five of offshore supply and service vessels and will grow further in coming months according to the company?s ceo, Steinar Kulen.

While the credit crunch is having an adverse impact on the global shipbuilding industry, the yard claims the market for large complex offshore vessels remains strong. Davie Yards reported a first-quarter loss of $8.7 million on revenue of $10.15 million, partly because of currency factors.