“The employees are proud of working for a company like Ulstein, building ships with an innovative design,” says Johan-Peder Brandal, who along with Paul Myrvågnes is working in Ukraine supervising the hull construction.
Zaliv has become a regular hull supplier for the Ulstein Group in addition to Maritim Ltd. of Poland. The first hull is newbuilding no. 283, an ULSTEIN SX121 for Marine Subsea. The hull will be finished in the autumn of 2008, but the completed ship will be delivered from Ulstein Verft in the summer of 2009.
In the right place
Myrvågnes is an experienced Ulstein employee. For years he has been supervisor at Ulstein Verft, but has also been stationed in Poland following up hull production at Maritim Ltd. Ukraine and Zaliv are not unfamiliar to Brandal. For years he has been a captain of chemical tankers, and he was also in charge of supervising hull construction for new tankers in Zaliv, among other places, for 3½ years. He joined the Ulstein Group
last summer.
After years in Ukraine and at Zaliv, how would you describe those who work there and the quality of the yard?
“Zaliv is well equipped to build hulls for the Ulstein Group, but we face some challenge in logistics, particularly getting goods and equipment into Ukraine. The employees are hard-working people, and I am convinced the partnership will be a success,” says Brandal.
2,100 employees
Zaliv is a yard that originally built large naval vessels and is located in Kerch by the Black Sea, a city with a population of 150,000. During the Soviet era the yard had more than 10,000 workers and some 40,000 people were dependent on the enterprise. After the Soviet Union fell in 1991 the Ukrainian shipbuilding industry suffered a major recession. Today, Zaliv has around 2,100 employees. The yard is privately owned, with a management focusing on running a modern and well equipped shipyard. Zaliv delivers three to four hulls per year and does extensive repair work.
Indoors
“The yard has good equipment, and all sandblasting and painting is done indoors in large halls. The hulls for Ulstein Verft are built in a huge 60 x 360-metre dock with a depth of 13.5 metres,” says Brandal.
How do you find living and working in Ukraine?
“It’s very nice. We’re now getting our own flats and cars, and then we’ll really be rolling,” say Brandal and Myrvågnes with a smile. The two men work in rotation: six weeks in Ukraine and two weeks at home at Sunnmøre on Norway’s west coast.
Facts about JSC Zaliv Shipyard
• Established: 1938
• Location: Kerch, in the strait between the Black and Azov Seas in Ukraine
• Employees: Approximately 2,100
• Ownership: Private, listed company
• Activities: Building hulls for chemical tankers, container ships and offshore vessels for European yards, in addition to repair work
• Largest ship built: 150,000 tonne tanker in the 1970s
