FINCANTIERI chairman Corrado Antonini has put some more flesh on the bones of his idea of what the European shipbuilding industry should do to face down the threat from Asian shipyards.
This time it sounds more like co-operation than protectionism but his central suggestion made at Seatrade that an arrangement similar to the EADS consortium might help secure business for the yards and their subcontractors draws an unfortunate parallel.
It could be that such a grouping could deliver cost and efficiency savings enough to keep European cruiseshipbuilding competitive against low cost competition, but the risk of that co-operation falling foul of competition law must be greater.
EADS itself currently finds itself embroiled in the kind of political scrum that only large contracts can engender.
At the end of a tortuous bidding process, it secured the contract to supply mid-air refueling tankers to the US Air Force only to find that even though it had scored better than Boeing in all categories, it was not American and therefore an unacceptable choice in the eyes of domestic politicians.
It’s ironic that when Europe talks of a need to defend its industry we quickly brand it protectionism. When the US does it, the national security card is played as a fig-leaf for preserving jobs.
But the other point that leapt out of coverage from Miami was that the market will always balance cost with expertise. European yards can comfortably cover the requirements of fleet growth.
Mr Antonini says he “is not afraid of competition” which is a good thing. One way or another, the market will decide.
Comments (1)
Comment by
Mr Carl Bennett
- Monday 17 March 2008
Mr Antonini may not be afraid of competition, but it often looks as if some North American companies are. As the most experienced maritime market research company extant GRS has also pitched for U.S. contracts and been turned down on the basis of not having an office in the right country. One major defence contractor at least had the honesty to tell us that was the reason, but it did not make-up for the totally wasted time and effort of bidding for the work.
I keep on wondering whether buying a ready-made $199 Delaware incorporated company would make all the difference.
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