ASTIVIK SHIPYARD
WORKING HARD in a challenging market
It was a tough year for many and the Caribbean ship repair sector in 2020 certainly had its ups and down. One shipyard working hard in a challenging market is Cartagena-based Astivik Shipyard.
C
aribbean Maritime spoke to the yard’s business development manager Cristhian Mar González about current market conditions and how Astivik has had to adapt its working practices in light of the coronavirus pandemic. First off, Astivik acknowledges that it has been tough. Says Mar González: “Given market demand, Astivik has concentrated its efforts on ship maintenance, ship repair and ship conversion projects. However, we have extensive experience in newbuilds, which includes barges, tugboats, push boats, self-propelled vessels and floating drydocks. These newbuilds have been delivered to companies such as Drummond, Glencore, Seacore, Impala/Trafigura among others. All were built to international standards set down by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Lloyd's Register or Bureau Veritas (BV).”
WORKLOAD The yard’s current workload comprises projects for local clients. “We are currently developing a newbuild project for the Colombian gold mining industry, and although the local demand for these types of projects is limited, and companies abroad don’t often see Colombia as a possible source for newbuilds, we want to be internationally recognized – especially with our 48 years of expertise in the field, our certified personnel and our high-quality standards. These, alongside strategic alliances with the world’s leading manufacturers of propulsion and manoeuvring systems, supervision and certification
26 Caribbean Maritime | February - May 2021
of most IACS member class societies established in Colombia and competitive prices, make us one of the best options for newbuilds in the Caribbean.
ADAPT In addition to working in a tight market, Astivik – along with many others – has had to adapt working practices and been impacted by national and international travel restrictions and onerous new health protocols. “It has been a very challenging year, during which we have attended the national market mostly, however, a large part of our sales come mainly from vessels from Caribbean countries such as Panama. Due to Covid-19, maritime borders were closed for about a month and international flights were only re-opened comparatively recently. During this period, we focused our efforts on national projects and the maintenance of our infrastructure in order to generate job opportunities in the region. Once the maritime border was re-opened, and thanks to the trust we have built, on 16 May we received our first US-flag ship, complying with strict biosafety protocols, and ever since, we have continued working in what we called the “new normal”, constantly updating our biosafety protocols, and getting excellent results through the service we have provided. “The ship repair and ship maintenance market is increasingly competitive, customers not only expect good prices, they also demand optimal delivery times. We are
focused to continue offering our clients a service that exceeds their expectations by combining quality, safety, delivery times and competitive prices, consolidating not only their trust in our work, but also establishing our position as one of the main shipyards in the Caribbean.” And prospects for this year? “We feel very optimistic that we will be able to reach our 2021 commercial objectives and will continue to establish ourselves as one of the main shipyards in the Caribbean,” Mar González confirms.
We have continued working in what we called the “new normal”, constantly updating our biosafety protocols
