A Greek-US joint venture says it is regenerating a traditional shipyard on the Aegean island of Syros infamous for labour troubles and delays in recent years.
Neorion Shipyard had shrunk to a mere scrapping facility but is crawling back to its previous shiprepair capacity, according to Panos Xenokostas, founder and chief executive of New York-based ONEX Technologies Group. The company has been managing the site since the spring of 2018.
“After 40 years, we have shipowners coming back to Greece for shiprepair,” Xenokostas told a Capital Link conference in Cyprus last week.
ONEX has serviced 53 vessels since taking over the yard and expects this to increase to 120 ships up to kamsarmax size each year.
$45m investment
It is investing $45m to put an aframax dock into operation by the end of 2019.
Xenokostas admitted that the yard’s pricing is “a little bit more expensive" compared with rivals in Turkey and Romania. However, he claimed that Neorion compensates with superior technology that ensures significantly lower turnaround times for clients.
Come to our yard to check who we are. We're always open and will be open to be better and better
Panos Xenokostas
Neorion also aims to revive old shipbuilding traditions in yachts and special purpose vehicles.
TradeWinds last reported about the yard under its previous management back in 2015. A Wallem-managed ship was then effectively held for ransom during a labour dispute there, losing weeks of charter hire. Its managers said it was highly unlikely they would ever contract shiprepair work in Greece again.
Xenokostas, a trained aerospace engineer with an MBA from Switzerland’s IUKB University, pledged to do better. “Come to our yard to check who we are," he told the conference.
"We're always open and will be open to be better and better."
