seatec - Finnish marine technology review 2/2013 | Page 29

for specialised ships are continuously insouthwestern coast of Finland. And the business is shipbuilding. creasing. ”What’s more, it seems that even ”Right now, prospects for new sales new car ferries will soon be in high de- t STX Finland Oy’s Rauma Shipyard, orders appear to be better than half a year mand. In this domain, sales projects for there may well be good reasons for ago,” says Mr. Toivo Ilvonen, currently Pro- new orders for Rauma shipyard already ex- the workers to expect to have their hands ject Director for STX’s Rauma and Turku ist,” he affirms. full with ships to be built for a long time to shipyards’ newbuildings. He was Director come. Production of a large offshore pa- of Rauma shipyard until spring 2013. A ”Also, negotiations for individual orders for research vessels have been on- trol vessel for the Finnish Border Guard will ”All in all, the situation of STX Fin- keep shipbuilders busy for the remainder land’s Rauma Shipyard now looks clearly The shipyard has in fact plenty of pri- of 2013. Furthermore, new export pros- better than it did just three months ago.” or experience of building various types of pects are dawning on the horizon. While STX’s South Korean owners are going.” research vessels in recent years. INCREASING NEED In the summer of 2012, Rauma ship- liable to lose some sleep going through FOR RESEARCH VESSELS yard completed the production of RV Mi- their financing options, it’s business as According to Mr. Ilvonen, the chances of rabilis, a fisheries research vessel built for usual for the STX Rauma shipyard on the Rauma shipyard for receiving new orders use in Namibia. Just a couple of months seatec 2/2013 27