Argentina Nationalizes Ship Repair Yard

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). In April, Tandanor, one of the largest ship repair yards in South America, located in the port area of Buenos Aires city, Argentina, was re-nationalized by Nestor Kirchner’s government through decree # 315/2007.

This shipyard, which has a 1,400 square meter dock and a "syncrolift," a big elevator that can lift crafts that weigh up to 150,000 tons, has a strategic location on the River Plate, where there are ports fit for oceanic vessels operations. Tandanor had been previously privatized and sold to Indarsa, a company formed by Compañia Argentina de Transportes Maritimos, Brisard Sud Marine and BHU Bank. However, this company only paid $7 million of the $70 million it had agreed for the company, declared bankruptcy and ceased to exploit the awarded entity in 1999. Thanks to Tandanor's workers, the ship repair yard continued to work and the workers helped manage the company with the supervision of a representative of the Argentine Justice. Now, Tandanor is at its feet and in the hands of the state. Its sales grew from $28.9 million in 2002 to $44 million in 2005.

Tandanor’s employees opposed the nationalization believing that the company had become competitive once more and is still active thanks to their work and collaboration and they feared that their posts were in jeopardy. Nevertheless, Nilda Garré, Minister of Defense, assured them that they will keep their positions and that this nationalization is another step towards making Tandanor bigger and more profitable.

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