__NOTOC__ The Galați shipyard ( ro, Șantierul naval Galați), formally Damen Shipyards Galați, is a shipyard located on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

in Galați, a city located in the

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

region of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

History

Origins through communism

Shipbuilding is a longstanding practice at Galați: by the late 18th century, longboats, canoes, sailboats and kayaks were being built there for both commercial and military use. Due to Moldavia's being a vassal state, most war vessel production was on behalf of the Ottoman Navy through the 1820s. The wood, of high quality, came from forests upstream and was brought by raft. It was not until the late 1830s, following the establishment of a

free port Free economic zones (FEZ), free economic territories (FETs) or free zones (FZ) are a class of special economic zone (SEZ) designated by the trade and commerce administrations of various countries. The term is used to designate areas in which co ...

at Galați, that the bulk of its ships started being used domestically: seven vessels were built there in 1839, followed by ten in 1840. In 1893, a local resident named Fernic purchased the arsenal of the fleet stationed there and the Naval Mechanical Factory, beginning ship production at what was called ''Șantierul Naval Fernic Galați'' ("Fernic Shipyard Galați"). Sorin Anghel
"Afacere bună cu vase pe bandă"
''Jurnalul Național'', 16 October 2006; accessed February 19, 2012Introduction
at the Damen Shipyards Galați site; accessed February 19, 2012 Four river monitors (NMS ''Ion C. Brătianu'', '' Mihail Kogălniceanu'', ''Alexandru Lahovari'' and ''Lascăr Catargiu'') were commissioned for the

Romanian Navy The Romanian Navy ( ro, Forțele Navale Române) is the navy branch of the Romanian Armed Forces; it operates in the Black Sea and on the Danube. It traces its history back to 1860. History The Romanian Navy was founded in 1860 as a river flo ...

in 1907. Built in sections in the Austro-Hungarian port of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

, they were assembled in Galați. In 1911, under the Premiership of Petre P. Carp, the area suffered some structural collapse, allegedly as a result of bad workmanship and political corruption (investigated by

Nicolae Fleva Nicolae Fleva (; also known as Nicu Fleva, Correspondent"Scrisoare din București" in ''Românul (Arad)'', Nr. 14/1912, p.4 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai Universitybr>Transsylvanica Online Library Francized ''Nicolas Fléva'';interwar period and into

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the yard had strategic significance, and two submarines ( NMS ''Rechinul'' and NMS ''Marsuinul'') and one minelaying

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

( NMS ''Amiral Murgescu'') were built there. Initially commanded by German captains, the submarines later fell to the Soviet Navy. Bogdan Nistor
"Povestea neştiută a celor două submarine construite la Galaţi: Marsuinul şi Rechinul"
''Adevărul'', 2 June 2015; accessed March 14, 2016 From 1938 to 1944, Galați completed 65 civilian ships and 11 warships: in addition to the submarines and minelaying destroyer, these consisted of four motor torpedo boats (the '' Vedenia''-class) and four minesweepers (the ''Democrația''-class). A dry dock, the country's first, was built between 1937 and 1942. Before the war, the largest ships built were a river steamer of 420 tons and barges up to 1,700 tons at Galati; the yard employed 500 to 800 men. Romania's first native-built oil tanker, ''SRT-128'', was launched there in 1942. The components of the Cernavodă Bridge were also built at Galați. In 1974, the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

made a massive investment into the shipbuilding industry, so that the yard became fully stocked with supplies, including an animal farm. From that time until the 1989 fall of the regime, some 80% of the shipyard's products were exported.

Damen Group era

Following this event, there were 32 unsold boats at the shipyard, and these were only liquidated in full in 2000. Meanwhile, the Dutch

Damen Group The Damen Group is a Dutch defence, shipbuilding, and engineering conglomerate company based in Gorinchem, Netherlands. Though it is a major international group doing business in 120 countries, it remains a private family-owned company. Dame ...

had taken over the yard. The group's interest in Galați began in 1994, when it subcontracted several cargo vessel hulls. This was the means by which its manager decided whether to invest somewhere. Noticing too that the boats left over from the Communist period were being reinforced, he decided to take control of the shipyard company's stock, which happened in 1999. Although he wished to obtain 100% of the shares, he only managed to acquire 99%, the remainder being in the hands of unidentified individuals who received

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

vouchers in the 1990s. Galați is the largest naval shipyard on the

, its output ranging from large tankers to small coast guard

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...

s. The company also represents a significant element of the local economy. Since 1990, all of its products have gone to export.Introduction
at the Galați City Hall site; accessed February 19, 2012 Following Damen's takeover, an investment plan focusing on improving efficiency and working conditions was introduced. For example, at the time of the takeover, spoons and coffee cups were listed in the inventory; afterwards, all items worth under $100 were considered disposable goods and no longer placed on the record books. The yard builds offshore vessels,

naval vessels A naval ship is a military ship (or sometimes boat, depending on classification) used by a navy. Naval ships are differentiated from civilian ships by construction and purpose. Generally, naval ships are damage resilient and armed with w ...

, special vessels (such as buoy laying vessels, patrol vessels and research vessels), tugs, workboats and

mega yacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from to ...

s,Organisation
at the Damen Shipyards Galați site; accessed February 19, 2012 and has also produced

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...

s, container carriers, cargo

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s and drilling rig platformsProducts
at the Damen Shipyards Galați site; accessed February 19, 2012—over 250 vessels since 1999. There were some 1550 employees at the end of 2010, as well as 1150 subcontracted employees handling support functions including electricity, HVAC, carpentry, blasting and painting.Key figures 2010
at the Damen Shipyards Galați site; accessed February 19, 2012 This was down from 10,000 total employees in 2006, of whom 3100 worked for Damen. Engineering services are mainly supplied by a Galați firm established in 2004 in which Damen is the major shareholder.Engineering
at the Damen Shipyards Galați site; accessed February 19, 2012
, at the Marine Engineering Galați site; accessed February 19, 2012 Production takes place on four lines: for vessels up to 10,000 dwt, for vessels up to 26,000 dwt, for vessels up to 50,000 dwt and for tugs and workboats.Facilities
at the Damen Shipyards Galați site; accessed February 19, 2012 There is also a workshop for piping and

galvanizing Galvanization or galvanizing ( also spelled galvanisation or galvanising) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerge ...

and a blasting and painting hall.Piping & Deep Hot Galvanizing Workshop
at the Damen Shipyards Galați site; accessed February 19, 2012Blasting & painting hall
at the Damen Shipyards Galați site; accessed February 19, 2012

Warships built

Gallery

File:Mihail Kogălniceanu monitor.jpg, ''Mihail Kogălniceanu'' in 1941 File:Amiral Murgescu (side).jpg, ''Amiral Murgescu'', the largest Romanian-built warship of the Second World War File:Marsuinul launching.jpg, Launching of ''Marsuinul'', May 1941 File:Galati 1978.jpg, The shipyard in 1978 File:MS KBV 003 Amfitrite.jpg, The '' Amfitrite'', a Swedish Coast Guard vessel built at Galați and launched in 2010 File:Samskip Pioneer p2 Port of Rotterdam 01-Jan-2005.jpg, The '' Samskip Pioneer'', a container ship launched in 2006 File:Cargo ship Susan Borchard at Port of Barcelona container terminal - 6 Oct. 2011.jpg, The '' Susan Borchard'', launched 2010

Notes

References

*Emilian Bold, "România și problema reparațiilor de la Conferința de la Spa la planul Dawes", in ''Analele științifice ale Universității "Al. I. Cuza" din Iași'', Istorie, vol. XV (1969), issue 1, pp. 71–88

External links

Damen Galaţi official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galati shipyard Shipyard Companies of Galați County Manufacturing companies established in 1893 Shipyards of Romania 1893 establishments in Romania