STX buys new Brazilian yard

STX Europe is ploughing $100m into a new shipyard in Brazil which will build offshore support vessels and gas carriers.

Europe’s largest shipbuilder will construct the new facility on the north east coast in partnership with PJMR.

Roy Reite, president of STX Europe's Offshore & Specialized Vessels division, said in a statement: "The new yard in Ceara aims to serve the growing Brazilian oil and gas market by supplying various types of vessels as offshore and specialized vessels and LPG carriers.”

STX says the Fortaleza yard, which will have a production capacity of 20,000 tonnes of steel per year, should be operational in just two years.

It will also create 1,500 jobs.

STX added: "The project is expected to benefit from domestic financing on favourable terms, supported by governmental resources."

STX Europe, formerly Aker Yards, first entered Brazil in 2001, setting up the Niteroi shipyard.

With eight vessels now in its order backlog and the Brazilian offshore market the hottest in the world, STX says extra capacity is necessary.

PMJR is a major shareholder in Atlantico Sul Shipyard and a driving force behind the Promar Ceara Shipyard project.

The Promar Ceara greenfield yard, tipped as the likely winner of a tender to build eight LPG carriers for Transpetro, its potentially the site in which STX has now invested.

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