The Smart Maritime Group (SMG) has resumed ship repair operations at the Mykolaiv shipyard’s facilities.
The company announced this in a statement on 18 October, the CFTS portal reports.
"The first 'client' after the forced pause was the Delta III, a tug built in 2006. Smart Maritime Group's specialists are carrying out its scheduled maintenance. The work includes cleaning and painting of the vessel's hull and maintenance of its main mechanisms, including the engine and navigation system," SMG said.
"We cannot resume shipbuilding work because our foreign customers simply cannot reach us safely. However, the resumption of repairs is already a good sign. Ukrainian businesses need to work. It is a matter of employment, taxes, and economic sustainability. Moreover, shipbuilding is a strategically important industry for the country... We are confident that this is just the beginning," said Dmytro Krasnikov, CEO of SMG.
As previously reported, SMG signed a contract to build the hulls of dry bulk carriers for a Netherlands-based customer in early 2022, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company said it was forced to cancel that contract in 2022. In addition, the company terminated a contract to build a tugboat for a Ukrainian customer, as well as contracts to manufacture metal structures, last year.
Another of the company’s assets – the Kherson shipyard – remains under constant Russian attack after the liberation of Kherson from the Russian occupiers. As a result, it is currently impossible to resume the shipyard's operations.
As previously reported, on January 24, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed a decree imposing sanctions on Vadym Novynskyi, the founder of the financial and industrial group Smart-Holding, which includes the Smart Maritime Group.
