Elefsis, a state-owned Greek shipyard near Athens that was teetering on the edge of collapse, announced that it has put a panamax repair dock back into operation.
This is the latest example of the company’s turnaround since it was taken over last year by Onex Technologies, a New-York based company that has already managed the same feat with Neorion — another ship repair yard on the nearby island of Syros.
Neorion and Elefsis used to be part of the same business group that was led by entrepreneur Nikos Tavoularis.
Both shipyards, however, struggled as soaring labour costs after Greece joined the eurozone in 2001 eroded their competitiveness vis-a-vis rivals in neighbouring Turkey and the Balkans. Frequent labour unrest hurt them as well, scaring away the few international clients prepared to give them business.
Strict European Union state aid rules and Greece’s crippling sovereign debt crisis made things even worse, hampering the government from keeping yards afloat through navy contracts.
Onex, a versatile technology group founded by Panos Xenokostas in 2004, rushed in to take advantage of the opportunity. In late 2019, it formally took over Neorion, breathing new life into the yard and renaming it Onex Syros Shipyards.
Now it is managing the same feat at Elefsis.
Its panamax dock has been put in operation and is already servicing its first ship maintenance contract, the company said on Wednesday. This is the 31st dry-docking at Elefsis since Onex took over.
This month, Onex secured a $125m loan from the Development Finance Corp to “support the modernisation and streamlining of operations” of Elefsis to “create a maritime and energy supply hub for the region”. the US development bank said.
Part of that financing will probably help expand an existing partnership between Onex and Italian shipyard giant Fincantieri to build corvette missile ships for the US Navy and the Hellenic Navy there.
The two companies set up a joint venture called Onex Elefsis Naval & Maritime in December. Last month, they agreed to expand their cooperation in a corvette newbuilding programme aimed at creating about 2,400 jobs.
