Source: Ports and Ships / Danilo Oliveira
• The state's maritime economy department wants to increase the competitiveness of shipyards in vessel construction and decommissioning projects
The Rio de Janeiro government is evaluating the possibility of a guarantee fund aimed at financing shipbuilding industry projects in the state. The state's energy and maritime economy department (Seenemar) notes that the lines currently available do not fully meet the credit needs of the sector, which has almost half the number of shipyards in the country, with different sizes and service profiles.
“We have started to look into studies for the operationalization of a guarantee fund. We are talking to the Finance Department to see if we can get a new guarantee fund, if we can change the sovereign fund. All of this is being worked on now,” said the undersecretary of energy and maritime economy of Rio de Janeiro, Admiral Sérgio Chaves, last week, during an event in Niterói (RJ), promoted by the Naval Technology Cluster-RJ and the Mauá Shipyard.
Another proposal, under discussion in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj), foresees the creation of a 'Blue ICMS' in the state, which would be applied as a way of encouraging certain activities focused on the maritime economy.
One of the activities on the radar to boost the industry in the state is decommissioning. Chaves sees the regulation of this activity as an opportunity to attract investment to the Rio de Janeiro naval hub. “If we can get a shipyard or facility that is not fully operational — or that is idle — we understand that it is easier to prepare such a facility to carry out sustainable decommissioning and dismantling of vessels within the standards of the Hong Kong Convention than to start from scratch,” said the undersecretary.
Chaves added that a program has already been implemented to develop the qualification and requalification of professionals in the offshore sector. According to the undersecretary, a survey conducted with the sector indicated the main professions in demand due to the industry’s recovery. With the demobilization of more than a decade, there was a gap in professionals who decided to pursue other activities. “With the recovery, we are once again feeling the lack of labor. We have partnered with city governments and institutions and will qualify, by the end of next year (2026), 12 thousand professionals in these areas”, he projected.
The department has investigated the possibility of conducting studies to classify shipbuilding projects as strategic projects for the state. According to Chaves, there is a working group investigating this possibility, which would speed up environmental licensing. According to Chaves, Seenemar held an initial sectoral meeting with representatives of the shipbuilding industry and intends to hold future meetings on a quarterly basis, as has been the case between the department and the port sector.
The undersecretary highlighted that Rio de Janeiro is home to 24 of the country’s 49 shipyards, 19 of which are located in Guanabara Bay. Of these, four large-scale facilities are located in the state. Chaves argued that Rio’s shipyards can be competitive in winning orders for the construction of new projects, such as the next ships in Transpetro’s fleet renewal program. “We look at this panorama of Rio de Janeiro’s shipbuilding industry with expectations of recovery. We are hopeful that the recovery will be solid, but we know that there are some problems,” he analyzed.