Bulgaria-based Rousse Shipyard has completed a capital raising and has undergone a management reshuffle, the company announced.
The improvement in the company's financial condition will allow it to settle some of its debts, the chairman of the company's management board Todor Palazov and executive director Stoyan Marinov said in an official statement, specifying that this will enable the company to implement its production programme relating to the signing of contracts for the construction of new ships.
About two months ago, Rousse Shipyard reported a change in ownership, but the names of the companies were never officially revealed.
As a result of the management reshuffle at Rousse Shipyards, Stoyan Marinov was appointed executive director of the company.
Apart from its regular customers from Germany and the Netherlands, Rousse Shipyard is seeking to establish business contacts with new partners, including from the rapidly developing market in Russia. The yard was due to deliver a new ship built for Dutch company Rederij Wantij last week.
The Rousse Shipyard was founded in 1881. In April 1999, it was privatised by Rousse Shipyard Beteiligungsgesellschaft, a German company. In the past few months it has seen intermittent protests by its workers over delayed salaries and reduced social benefits.
In early January 2011, workers declared civil disobedience as they had not received their salaries for three months. The new unnamed shareholders of the Danube shipyard have declared their intention to continue to develop the basic activities of the plant – shipbuilding and ship repairing.
Sofia News Agency