Ministry report reveals desperate financial plight of Poland's shipyards

In its latest report on the state of the country's shipyards, the Economy Ministry estimates that their debts currently amount to zl.4.1 billion. So poor is the financial condition of some shipyards that, in order to cover their liabilities, banks are blocking payments made to them by ship-owners. Explaining the shipyards' predicament, Miroslaw Piotrowski, spokesman for Grupa Stocznia Gdynia, said, "Shipyards are forced to finance the whole process of ship construction, in the majority of cases relying on loans even though the ship-owners pay in installments." According to Puls Biznesu, another major concern is the 24% increase in 2001 of shipyards' short-term liabilities. To make matters worse, the sector last year recorded income of zl.3.9 billion, just 88% of the figure for 2000. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) P.J.