Baltijos Laivu Statykla
Encyclopedia
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
. The company, located in Klaipėda
Klaipeda
Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....
, is the only shipbuilding yard in the Baltic States
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
(Lithuania, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
and Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
) that supplies fleets and marine companies worldwide. However, many shipbuilding corporations such as STX Europe have shipbuilding or used to have shipbuilding operations in the Baltic States. "Baltija" builds pontoons, barges, trawlers, floating docks, river ferries, dry cargo ships and container carriers. "Baltija" also provides ship-repair services.
The Soviet Ministry of Shipbuilding founded the yard in 1952, to build fishing boats. In 1958 the yard started building steel floating docks. In 1992 the government of Lithuania held 96% of the shares, which were sold to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
-based Odense Steel Shipyard
Odense Steel Shipyard
Odense Steel Shipyard located in Odense, Denmark was constructed in 1918–1919 by the A.P. Møller company and will be closed sometime in 2012. A new yard with bigger and better facilities was constructed 1957–1959 on a new site located in Munkebo a few kilometres outside of Odense proper...
in April 1997. In 2010, the shipyard was acquired by the Estonian company BLRT Grupp
BLRT Grupp
BLRT Grupp is a shipbuilding company headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia. In addition to Estonia, the company owns shipyards in Lithuania, Finland and Norway...
.
The yard builds tugboats, grand blocks and outfitted superstructures, that are just part of container ship
Container ship
Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.-History:...
s built in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Denmark, and blocks for passenger liners
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
built in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
.
The company has grown steadily, in 1998 it produced 18,000 tons of steel for ship production, that grew to 32,000 tons in 2003, and was 55,400 tons in 2006. Employment peaked in 1999, at over 1800, and is now between 1500 and 1600.