(MENAFN- Asia Times)
Fincantieri-Europe's largest shipbuilder, based in Italy's Trieste-is quietly working to transform defunct Ukraine government-owned shipyards in the Black Sea port of Odesa into a state-of-the-art manufacturing hub that will seek to build some of the world's most advanced commercial vessels.
Expansion into Odesa seems like a logical next step for the Italian company following its success in building next-generation commercial ships for its Norwegian subsidiary VARD in Tulcea, Romania. Fincantieri employs some 4,500 workers in Tulcea and Braila, near the Moldovan border.
Once a sleepy tourist destination, Tulcea on the Danube Delta has turned into a center of geopolitical interest after becoming the main transport hub for Ukrainian agriculture exports after Russia seized the Sea of Azov following its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Tulcea has also been in the news as Russia continues to send killer drones to the area to disrupt shipping. Drones have crossed and crashed into Romanian territory – a serious military and diplomatic escalation considering Romania is both a NATO and European Union member.
“The Danube here is in a curvy S shape, so the Russian drones cross in and out of Romanian territory,” said Ciprian Safca, a river ferry captain and Tulcea regional councilor.“Russian drones now come in groups of five or so,” he said. The Romanian military“decided it was better to let them pass than try to shoot them down and potentially miss one or two.”
However, the Russian drones have failed to dampen Fincantieri's commitment to northeast Romania and its plans for Odesa. If it goes ahead with a plan to build a next-generation shipyard in Odesa, Fincantieri could well become the largest foreign investor in Ukraine's history.
The Fincantieri project would even exceed, in terms of total investment and employees, the Neptune deep-sea grain cargo port built and operated by Minneapolis, Minnesota-based US food giant Cargill at the TIS Seaport outside of Odesa.
The Neptune port was completed in 2018, with an investment of US$150 million from the World Bank's International Finance Corporation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The IFC and the World Bank's insurance group, MIGA, have already informed Fincantieri that they are eager to provide project finance and political risk insurance for the project, while the United States International Development Finance Corporation (US DFC) is willing to provide war risk insurance.
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