About Shipyard

Although the name of Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa, one of the leading Polish and European shipyards, suggests that company is new (Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa means the New Szczecin Shipyard) the truth is entirely different. The adjective ‘new’ refers to the latest transformations process in consequence of which ‘ Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa’ was established in 2002. The company itself is part of the tradition of shipbuilding in Szczecin that goes back to the middle of the 19th century. So, no one can talk about the new company coming into the shipyards market. It is more like returning to the Premiership after a short break for putting on new shoes.

The town of Szczecin has a long tradition as a harbour and a place where a ship are build. In the 19th century the Vulcan yard was the biggest shipyard in Germany (until the end of World War II, Szczecin was part of Germany) and built the three biggest ships in the world at the turn of 19th century. In 1898, a passenger liner Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse became the first German ship to capture the Blue Riband for the Atlantic. Four years later, her successor Kronprinz Wilhelm won the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing from Cherbourg to New York: 5 days, 11 hours, 57 minutes. Both liners were built by the Vulcan shipyard.
During World War I, submarines were built in Szczecin. After the war, the good old days gone; international crises produced financial problems for Vulcan, and the shipbuilding centres moved to Hamburg and Bremen. Carpet bombing by the allies during World War II destroyed 80 per cent of the town of Szczecin and its shipyard facilities.
Stocznia Szczecinska was established in 1948 as a state-owned enterprise after the consolidation of the existing shipyards that had been taken over by Polish authorities after the end of war. The first ship launched by the Polish shipyard industry in the post-war period was the Oliwa which left the slipway in April 1948. The construction of the next ship – the Polish collier, named Czulym – did not begin until 1951 on the Odra slipway. On the slipway of the Odra hull construction centre the ships built were relatively small. So in 1957 a hull construction centre with two slipways named Vulcan was rebuilt to meet the increasing demands of customers. The first ship from this slipway was launched in 1959.
In 1994, the new slipway Odra Nowa (new Odra) was constructed. It enabled the construction of ship up to 40m wide. In 2000, the Wulkan II slipway was modernised, considerably enlarged and equipped with a new gantry reaching 72m in height and with 450 tons lifting capacity – at the time biggest crane of its kind in Poland. The expanded Wulkan enabled constructions of ship up to a length of 256m and a deadweight of the up to 100,000 tons.
In 1996, Szczecin Shipyard was fifth in the world in the terms of the total order amounts, but five years later was eleventh. In the decade lasting up to 2002 the yard sold 155 ship with a total value of $3.7 billion. Investments reached $216 million.
In the Szczecin shipyard different types of ships were built: colliers, cargo-passengers and general cargo ships, hydrographic and scientific research vessels, training and cargo ships, car and passengers ferries, container and semi-container, chemical tankers, drilling platforms, services ships, crane and workshop ships, floating power plants, supply tugs, a training rocket-artillery ship, hospital ships and a landing operation ship.
Among the main buyers were Germany, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Australia, South Africa, Russia, Chile, Liberia, Isle of Man, Norway, Poland, New Zealand, Greece and many others.
In 1999 there was a major downturn in the world economic situation – as a result of which there was a substantial reduction of a new ship orders and a sharp price decline. The financial situation of the Szczecin shipyard was also aggravated by several years with a high exchange rate between the Polish zloty and US dollar. All the circumstances led to the shipyard’s insolvency.
The State Agency of Industrial Development took over from Stocznia Szczecinska Porta Holding S.A., the company Allround Ship Service Ltd. On 17 July 2002, it started operating under the name of Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa Ltd and continues with ship construction.

During 48 months of SSN activity there have been 30 ships built with the income of $1.1 billion ($400 million in 2005). Our yearly financial return for 2005 was positive – the first time in history of SSN.
The site of SSN is not directly by the open sea but on the banks of the Odra river. We couldn’t built the biggest container ship. The situation forced Szczecin shipyard to turn its attention to other directions for a development. The company strategy is to become a leader in selected fields of both container (3-4,000 TEU) and fast container ships (up to 1,700 TEU) and also chemical tanker production (45-50,000 DWT). This means that for chemical tankers with stainless steel tanks,, SSN is No.1 in the world. Another target is the development of highly specialized vessels, and we are entering the market for gas transporting ships and have come back to the market of off-shore types of ships.
At the moments, all three slipways have their particular specializations. The first one has been constructing chemical tankers with stainless steel tanks with deadweight up to 40,000 ton. Only a few shipyards around the world can build such ships. SSN has orders to build up to two or three chemical tankers per year for the next 10 years. Eight chemical tankers for liquid chemical transport have been ordered by Norwegian company Odfjell ASA. This is the biggest project of its kind in the world.
Con-Ro vessels are built on the second slipway. We plan to constructed eight vessels for next three years. They have been ordered by a Dutch company to transport paper from the north of Finland, so the ships have to have additional ice-breaking reinforcements.
The projects on both of these slipways are technologically sophisticated, but the third slipway is reserved for less demanding, more ordinary projects such as middle-class containers. We have 25 orders for container vessels.
At the moment, Szczecin Shipyard has orders in hand for 37 vessels worth, jointly, $1.7 billion to be built by 2009. These orders give us about 29th position in the world shipbuilding industry, third or fourth in Europe and first in Poland. Shipyard is the biggest employer in a region with about 5,000 employees. But it’s not only the quantity of employment but also the quality of our staff that is a source of pride. SSN workers are well educated, very effective and extremely professional. The strength of Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa lies in its ability to work on technologically, organisationally and logistically sophisticated projects. This capability can only be accomplished by professional and confident staff. The quality of our offer is confirmed by numerous certificates including ISO-9001:2000.
The shipbuilding industry is very much like riding on a rollercoaster, and follows the cycle of booms and slumps.
The financial results of a boom are always delayed about 2-3 years. Ships ordered today are paid for much later. Paradoxically, the boom for vessels also has a weak point. Although new ship prices increase rapidly, so does the cost of steel. Currently, we can meet such a situation which is caused by the vast demand for sea transport from Asian countries. Most shipyards are benefiting from this boom. There are record-breaking orders. On the other hand, steel prices have increased 21 times, and shipyards are going to have to fulfil contracts in the future that have been made at today’s prices.
The art of the shipbuilding business is to try to become, if possible, independent of the booms and slumps of the rollercoaster (especially the slumps!). Our way is diversification of production and close cooperation with banks such as Norddeutsche Landesbank, Bank Handlowy and Bank PKO S.A. Therefore our portfolio consists of many kinds of vessels.
The other way is finding a niche specialisation most appropriate to the profile of a company. In our case, for example, chemical tankers are our bread and butter. A plan for the coming years is to build 10-11 vessels including five or six from specific niche markets. The added advantage of this policy is avoiding the main direction of East Asian shipyards competition.
There is also constant, close scrutiny of the markets to find a new gap or new trend, and then to meet those demands. Sea transport still has an important place in modern world. Researchers predict even more interest in sea transport in the coming decades, especially in the category of passenger ships (for short and medium distance ) and chemical tankers. It lets us be rational optimists as to the future and keeps us open to new market challenges.