Navantia has started the manufacture of the first of the Suezmax oil tankers for the Ibaizábal Group. The ships are to be built to a large extent in the shipyard of Puerto Real and some blocks in Ferrol. The first ship will be delivered by the end of next year and the contract will involve about 3,100 jobs between direct, indirect and induced. The first two ships will be incorporated into the Cepsa fleet, under the form of time charter. The construction of the ships is part of the agreement that Cepsa has signed with Ibaizábal to renew its fleet, incorporating the most advanced optimisations, both in energy efficiency and in the transport of cargo and safety.

The ceremony was attended by the Korean Ambassador, Park Hee-Kwon; the President of DSEC, Man-Soo Kim; the President of the Ibaizábal Group, Alejandro Aznar; the Director of Communication and Institutional Relations of Cepsa, Iñigo Díaz de Espada and Navantia President José Manuel Revuelta. In December 2015 the classification company Lloyd's Registers certified the 6 killers, fulfilling one of the contractual obligations that the killings were produced before the end of 2015, in order to comply with the current international regulations in the construction of this type of ship.

From now on, with the continuous reception of materials from DSEC in Korea, the pace of work will increase considerably, the first of the ships will be delivered by the end of 2017. Work is also currently under way to achieve the fifth and sixth oil tankers. The construction of each ship will be about 725,000 hours of work, i.e. for the first 4 the volume of labour will be about 3 million hours of work for the shipyards of Navantia in the Bay of Cadiz and in the Ria de Ferrol and the auxiliary companies. The operation will generate direct, indirect and induced employment of more than 3,100 people. Of this number, over 1,600 jobs are induced

Competitive business model

The ships are being built in Spain at the price of the international market, for this type of ships, giving stability to the workload of Navantia, promoting job creation and national industry. Navantia President José Manuel Revuelta stressed that "today is a very important day for Navantia and Spanish industry, because two decades later oil tankers are reconstructed in our country." He added that "the company's workload situation has changed, and its transformation process is being consolidated to be a competitive and sustainable shipbuilding company, eminently military but also civil, international and productive diversification capacity." Alejandro Aznar highlighted the commitment of the management team and the company committee of Navantia to move the project forward. The Korean ambassador has indicated that this Spanish-Korean collaboration will bring a mutual benefit.

The contracts involve the return with economic profitability for the Company to the construction of oil tankers after so long without making such ships. The contracts have been achieved by being able to offer a very competitive product, thanks to an agreement with DSEC, an engineering company of Daewoo.

DSEC provides its experience in building this type of ship, a very consolidated design, and avoids the risks associated with the start of a new project. The agreement includes all the design and its logistics and supply chain, although always giving opportunity and priority to domestic companies offering competitive prices.

This new business model allows Navantia to compete in the global market, offering a competitive price and an appropriate time frame for the customer's needs, without the risks associated with the start of a new project.

Main features of the Suezmax

This type of Suezmax ships are called because their dimensions allow them to navigate the Suez Canal. Its most outstanding magnities are:

• Dead weight: 156,000 tons
• Length: 274 meters
• Manga: 48 meters
• Steel used: 20,144 tonnes