Ukraine to Build a Corvette Class Ship by 2016

KYIV, Ukraine, May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ukraine is serious about reviving and further development of its ship-building industry in Mykolaiv region (South Ukraine - Ed.). This is the theme of the visit of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to Chernomorsky Shipyard in Mykolaiv, where he participated in laying the keel of the corvette class ship for the Naval Force of Ukraine.

During the visit the President commended the ship-building employees for their patience and faith. "I am confident that together we will create with you all the motivation for the development of shipbuilding", said the Ukrainian leader. This will be the third ship of corvette class that Ukraine will build since its independence.

It's been reported earlier that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine plans to allocate about UAH 16.22 billion (about $ 2 billion) to finance the construction of four corvette-class ships until 2021. The first ship of the corvette class is planned to leave the shipyard in 2016.

Chernomorsky shipyard is located to the south west of the city of Mykolaiv at the Black Sea. The shipyard is one of the largest in Europe possessing the ship-building and machine-building capacity and is certified by Germanisher Lloyds, Shipping Register of Ukraine and Russian Shipping Register.

Ukraine is famous to have built missile and aircraft carriers, large antisubmarine ships, heavy transport ships, boats, lighter carriers and multi-purpose icebreaking supply vessels. Overall, there are about 25 branch research institutes, 7 large plants that produce ship engines and ship equipment for ship building industry, 11 shipyards and 11 factories that produce ship instruments in Ukraine. Nowadays, experts claim that Ukrainian shipbuilding operates at 40 percent capacity.

The history of Ukrainian shipbuilding is closely connected to the shipbuilding history of the former Soviet Union, which owned approximately 30 percent of the global market share in producing navy ships and was among the top 10 countries in the world to produce cargo and passenger vessels. Ukrainian shipyards played a vital role in the military and civilian shipbuilding. In the 90s when Ukraine became independent the number of state order for navy vessels has decrease substantially and the state wasn't ready to maintain the industry. In the last 10 years Ukrainian shipyards started to reorganize their operations and look for alternative solutions.