6.12.2004
VÍTKOVICE STEEL supplied more than 3 000 tons of ship-building plates to Aker Finnyards, Rauma, for erection of 177 m long and 28 m wide „genuine“ luxurious yacht named BIRKA PARADISE, which the ship-yard handed over this week to the client, i.e., to a Swedish company called Birka Line. The plates were supplied to Finland gradually from June 2003 till the beginning of this year. The yacht was launched for the first time this April and starting this week it will be carrying its passengers on a regular line Stockholm, Sweden– Mariehamn Finland.
„This yacht is an excellent example of our capabilities and expertise in the area of building yachts for amusement sailing with discriminating clientele. So, this November, swimming in the pool and lunch under palms in an exotic environment will be possible also in the Baltic sea,” said Jyrki Heinimaa, President of Aker Finnyards. Tropical heat under artificial sun which is shining as the real one but with 90% filtering of ultraviolet rays is possible thanks to a glassed outside deck. Also thanks to the Ostrava-based company, 1800 passengers can stroll along the eleven decks or visit nine restaurants, a few bars, two night-clubs and the highest recreation deck with an observation lounge and swimming pool with bathing facilities.
This order is a continuation of a several-year-long cooperation with Aker Finnyards. Last year, VÍTKOVICE STEEL supplied approximately 5400 t of plates for erection of a ship named Victoria I – a vessel which is 193 m long, 29 m wide with gross tonnage of 40 000 t, which is able to carry up to 2500 passengers. Victoria I is a part of the fleet of the Estonian shipping company Tallink Group AS and it has been used for trasnsport of passengers and vehicles on the line Stockholm-Tallin since March 2004. “This ferry is another important reference thanks to the two companies that have an excellent reputation in the marine world,” says Ludvík Strakoš, the Plates Product Group Manager. „Tallink, who is a clear leader on the passenger and cargo shipping market between Estonia and Finland as well as between Estonia and Sweden shipped in its twelve vessels more than 2.6 million passengers last year and the company is the largest shipping company in Estonia. Akers Finnyards is the world leading builder of ferryboats who in the last three years supplied, besides others, the fastest ferryboat sailing across the Canal la Manche to France, three passenger ferryboats to Scotland and the biggest Estonian ferryboats Romantika and Victoria 1 and also the largest ferryboat in the world to Ireland. By the way, this giant named Ulysses was built exclusively of the plates supplied by our company,” added Strakoš.
,,Finland has been our traditional export market for many years,“ said Mr. Vladimír Bail, Ph.D., the Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, VÍTKOVICE STEEL. ,,This year we will supply to Finland more than 10 000 t in standard structural grades and next year we are expecting an increase in these supplies. The Finish ship-yards have shown interest in some 15 000 tons of ship-building plates and we assume that our traditional Finish customers will take at least the same volume as this year,” added Bail.
Last year VÍTKOVICE STEEL made some 164 thousand tons of ship-building plates, while our largest customers are ship-yards in Croatia and in Poland. „Thanks to the current boom in the ship-building industry we can expect that by the end of 2004 we will exceed production level of 170 thousand tons of ship-building plates,” said Strakoš. “This fact is also evidenced by the exceptional increase of sales from the supplies for this industry that increased by 50% in the first three months of the year 2004. And for the first nine months of this year we produced 130 kt of ship-building plates.” This trend is definitely supported by the fact that the ship plates production in VÍTKOVICE STEEL was certified as per the requirements of the world leading shipping companies like American Bureau of Shipping, Det Norske Veritas from Norway, Germanisher Lloyd from Germany, Marine Register of Shipping from Russia or Lloyd’s Register of Shipping from UK. On these grounds VÍTKOVICE STEEL ranks among the most prestigious producers of ship-building plates in the world able to supply for the most attractive shipping projects. Victoria 1 and Birka Paradise are the latest references of this fact.
