The Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, visited today the facilities of Astilleros de Santander (ASTANDER) where he has seen first-hand the technical and human capacity of this shipbuilding, transformation and repair company.
Hereu has highlighted that Spanish shipyards have specialized in vessels with a high technological level, such as vessels supporting oil platforms, oceanographic, etc., and continue to be a reference in the construction of fishing vessels and vessels for the transport of live fish.
For the Government of Spain, the naval sector is strategic due to its technological content and its economic and territorial impact. That is why the Ministry of Industry and Tourism is committed to ensuring that the naval industry plays an important role in the Spanish industrial ecosystem. To this end, it launched the PERTE Naval, which has granted 81 million euros to 4 tractor projects that combine 84 primary projects. Among the beneficiaries of the PERTE Naval is ASTANDER, which obtained 1.5 million euros for 8 primary projects for the digitalization and sustainability of its production processes.
ASTANDER belongs to Alimia Shipyards Group, the largest group of private shipyards in Spain.
Finally, the minister pointed out that the naval sector has an opportunity to consolidate its leading position in the different subsectors from construction to repair and maintenance or the auxiliary industry.
Hereu has recognized the important collaboration of the Ministry with Pymar, an entity that offers an invaluable service to the shipyards and the sector in general of technical and financial advice, whose tangible result is the contracting of ships in our shipyards with tailored solutions to the problems of financing, guarantees and counter-guarantees necessary.
During the visit, the minister was accompanied by Germán Carlos Suárez, president and CEO of Astilleros Canarios (ASTICAN), Astilleros de Santander (ASTANDER) and Astilleros Puerto de Balboa in the Panama Canal (ASTIBAL); Juan Luis Sánchez, director of ASTANDER, and Eugenia Gómez de Diego, delegate of the Government.