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Spain Shipbuilding
During the economic expansion of the 1960s and the
early
1970s, Spain became one of the world's leaders in
shipbuilding,
ranking third in 1974. Its shipbuilding industry was one
of the
few major industries in the country that made no use of
foreign
capital. Shipbuilding, both in Spain and among other
shipbuilding
nations, was however, one of the main casualties of the
post-1974
energy crisis; following a sharp drop in orders in the
late
1970s, the shipbuilding sector was in serious difficulty.
Among
Spain's leading industries, it was one of those most
affected by
production cutbacks, closings, and reductions in
personnel. The
number of shipbuilding yards able to build steel-hulled
vessels
declined from forty-three in 1975 to thirty, ten years
later.
In the mid-1980s, more than half Spain's shipbuilding
capacity was located in Cadiz; other major shipyards in
the south
were at Seville (Spanish, Sevilla) and Cartagena. In the
north,
important shipyards were located at El Ferrol del Caudillo
and in
the province of Vizcaya. The shipbuilding industry was
dominated
by two state-owned firms, both belonging to the INI group,
and in
1986 each had about 12,000 employees. One company, Empresa
Nacional Bazan de Construcciones Navales Militares
(generally
referred to as Bazan), constructed military vessels. The
other,
Astilleros Espanoles, SA (AESA), constructed civilian
ships. The
next three largest firms employed a total of 4,000
persons.
After years of decline and heavy losses, in 1987 the
Spanish
shipbuilding industry turned the corner, showing strong
gains in
the construction of vessels from small- to medium-size. In
1987
deliveries totaled 340,000 compensated gross registered
tons,
90,000 tons more than in 1985 or 1986. Solid increases in
foreign
orders were exceeded by domestic demand. Rigorous
restructuring
measures undertaken in the 1980s were believed to have
prepared
the industry for the upsurge in orders on the world market
that
was expected in the early 1990s.
Data as of December 1988
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