The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Group has formally expressed its interest in acquiring Damen Shipyards Mangalia in Romania, which has been under insolvency proceedings for over a year.
According to local media, the company has reportedly made advance payments for ship repair services, indicating serious intent.
MSC now finds itself in a competitive bid with Turkish firm Desan, which is also in talks with Romanian authorities to lease production facilities and workforce from the Mangalia yard.
Ship repair operations resumed in May, reactivating roughly 800 employees. At present, two ships are undergoing work in the docks, with another expected shortly. This marks a reversal from earlier months when only 100 employees were active and nearly 1,000 were on technical unemployment.
Despite this operational revival, the yard remains in significant financial distress. Damen Shipyards Mangalia has accumulated debts exceeding its total assets for more than a year, according to local media reports.
Total creditor claims amount to RON 1.87 billion ($410 million), of which RON 1.049 billion ($216 million) is officially acknowledged and RON 827.6 million ($194 million) is conditionally accepted.
By contrast, the shipyard’s assets—including fixed assets, inventory, receivables, and holdings—have a market value of RON 944.28 million ($205 million) and a liquidation value of nearly RON 433 million ($93 million).
MSC is aiming to manage the facility, which is still majority-owned by the Romanian state. The Damen Group retains a 49 per cent minority share and is the largest creditor involved.
According to local media, Prabhat Jha, CEO of MSC Shipmanagement Limited, based in Limassol, addressed a formal letter to then Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, Deputy Prime Minister Marian Neacșu, and Ilie Bolojan, who was serving as interim president at the time.
The letter reads: “The growth of MSC’s fleet requires a large shipyard for new building programmes, currently concentrated in Asia (for containerships) and Europe (for cruise ships).”
“We intend to consider the Mangalia shipyard for future construction of cruise ships, ropax (vessels for transporting vehicles and passengers, ed.) and tugboats.”
Earlier this month, MSC’s logistics arm, MEDLOG, officially opened the MEDLOG Inland Terminal Paris-Bruyères, a new multimodal facility located 40 kilometres north of Paris, France.