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Photo—Trade Commission of Norway SCANDINAVIAN SHIPBUILDING At a time when even the lower- cost Japanese and the aggressive South Korean shipbuilding fra- ternities are experiencing some difficulties, there are signs of suc- cess in the Scandinavian coun- tries. The shipbuilding industries of each of these four traditional maritime nations are still active, with a few yards doing relatively well. The Finns, with another spate of Soviet ordering and their own spe- cialization in high technology ves- sels, are in the best position; the Danish yards are kept going by their special relationships with shipowners; the Swedes and the Norwegians, with their industries organized along radically different lines, both face an uphill struggle. 24 Scandinavian shipbuilders still have a well deserved reputation for producing high quality vessels. Recent examples include the "Sea Goddess," a luxury cruise liner yacht, from Finland's Wartsila; the ACL RO/RO container vessels from Kockmus in Sweden; the suc- cessful "Multiflex" freight ROs/ROs from the Danish Frederikshavn Vaerft, and the popular UT708 and UT704 offshore support ves- sels from Ulstein Hatlo in Norway. Denmark On the face of it, the Danish shipbuilding industry fared rela- tively well in 1983. Against the background of a slump in world deliveries of over 9 percent in terms of ships, and 17 percent in terms of tonnage, Danish yards in- creased output to 28 ships (up by four), and 839,940 dwt, an im- provement of 21 percent. Indeed, figures indicate that this relatively high level of work will continue, in the short term at least. The Danish Shipbuilders' Association's annual report for 1983 revealed that there were 36 ships totalling 1,164,823 dwt on order at its member yards on January 1st 1984. In the first quarter of 1984, a further 11 vessels were ordered from Danish yards boosting the tonnage figure by a total of 34,000 dwt. However, these successes have not been won easily. Yards have been forced to make workforce re- ductions, and it has been reported that more may follow. The total number of people now employed in Danish shipbuilding is down to around 11,000, representing a drop (continued on page 26) Model of Carnival Cruise Line ship built by Aalborg Vaerft. Circle 94
