Shipyard going under?

Deputy Defense Minister Zenon Kosiniak-Kamysz, who is responsible for the modernization of the army, toldRzeczpospolita that the shipyard's financial problems had caused it to withhold its signature from a contract to outfit Gawron-class corvettes with "advanced electronic warfare systems."  The zł.600 million contract was won by Thales Nederland, a Netherlands-based company specializing in mission-critical information systems, in a tender earlier this year.

Plans to construct the seven Gawron-class corvettes - small, multi-purpose ships used by the Polish military - have thus been put in danger. Each vessel carries a price tag of around zł.1.2 billion.

Naval Shipyard Gdynia is the only center in Poland where military ships can be repaired and refurbished. "If the shipyard were to go bankrupt, the army would not only have a problem with completing the Gawron, but also with repairing the main logistical unit, the Kontradmirał Xawery Czernicki [class ship]," the deputy minister toldRzeczpospolita.

Since being commercialized in 2005, the Gdynia shipyard has often been reported as having financial troubles.

As WBJ went to press, neither the Gdynia shipyard, nor Thales Nederland were available for comment.