“What saddens me is that in the best welding company in the Netherlands, 98% of its workers are Portuguese. And we are discussing that we have a shortage of skilled labor, ”said Jorge Martins, founder of Neptune Devotion. with naval shipyards in Aveiro.
Jorge Martins, who stepped down as CEO of multinational consulting and technology company Capgemini Portugal almost four years ago to devote himself to customizing pleasure or sports boats up to 55 feet in length, spoke in a debate about the present and future of the national economy. naval industry, as part of Porto Maritime Week, an initiative promoted by Transportes & Negócios and continuing until tomorrow in the city of Invicta.
With the Portuguese shipbuilding industry recording a 26% increase in turnover in 2020 over the previous year, to around € 250 million, the sector is facing some pressing challenges such as “a shortage of skilled labor, an aging workforce and manufacturing infrastructure. , outdated regulations and the impact of environmental concerns, competition from countries with low production costs and unfair international competition rules, ”said Transportes & Negócios.
“The major challenges for us are the shortage of skilled labor, some of the contextual costs we continue to experience, and the rising cost of raw materials, mainly due to the disruptions that occur in the shipping sector,” Francisco said. Barbosa, CEO of Navaltagus, the shipyards of the ETE group, to which Navalrocha also belongs.
“We are looking for new market niches to reorient ourselves and grow, but we know the competition is fierce, especially in shipbuilding, with competition from Turkish shipyards, which have a much cheaper skilled workforce,” said the same manager. …
Luis Braga, commercial director of Lisnave, also noted that the main difficulties facing the Portuguese company are related to the lack of qualified labor and competition from shipyards that can offer lower prices.
“Lisnav is losing the most repairs in Turkey. But there is another type of competition that is not talked about so much. Nowadays Lisnav may be the one to train the more skilled workforce in the country and then the people who are certified. emigrate to places where they are better paid, namely the Netherlands. We try to keep more qualified people in the field of training and hiring, preferably the Portuguese, but the truth is that for the 20 people that have formed, we managed to keep only one, ”he complained.
“Most clients choose only the cheapest solution, so they choose shipyards in the Middle East, for example, in Turkey,” he concluded.
“We have the same problem as Lisnave in terms of training technical personnel,” said Vitor Figueiredo, administrator of West Sea, the company that embodies the Martifer naval industry.
“But it’s not just a matter of remuneration — there are other factors, such as career advancement,” Figueiredo said.
