Rauma Marine Construction Has Secured a Solid Orderbook
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Shipyard Rauma is one of the three primary shipbuilding Rauma Marine cities in Finland. The other two are Helsinki and Construction Turku. TEXT EERO MÄKINEN has secured a PHOTOS PUOLUSTUSVOIMAT, RMC AND WASALINE solid orderbook Ferry for Kvarken Link - for Wasaline operation route Vaasa - Umeå. 16 N_16-21.indd 16 21.12.2020 7.42 rom World War II onwards, the efit of both nations – Finland and the Soviet shipbuilding industry in Finland Union. This phase lasted over three decades has had a somewhat similar his- and, during that period, the yards also had a tory to many other European chance to develop their businesses to serve countries: rapid reconstruction clients in the West. Fand expansion after the war, later diminish- Soviet trade diminished and actually de- ing global market share, mergers, closures teriorated in the late 1980s, even some years and ownership changes, but also innovation before the Soviet Union collapsed. At that and dynamic technology development, very time, the yards were already operating at full much in cooperation with the local maritime speed in the Western market, mainly with supplier network grown with the yards. specialized products. The background of Rauma Marine Con- Hollming and Rauma-Repola merged struction covers features listed above. In the their shipbuilding businesses in 1991 and late 1940s, there were two strong shipyards formed Finnyards Oy. Later in 1998 Fin- in the city: the family-owned Hollming Oy nyards was sold to the Norwegian company and another yard owned by one of the larg- Aker Maritime, resulting in the name change est industrial conglomerates in Finland at to Aker Finnyards. Then, in 2004, Aker Fin- that time, Rauma-Repola Oy. Until the early nyards and yards in Helsinki and Turku 1950s, the two yards were busy with the (which were owned by another Norwegian “war reparations” program that covered a company, Kvaerner, at the time) merged to large amount of ship deliveries to the Soviet form a company that became part of Aker Union as “compensation for the war lost by Yards. This meant that all the major yards in Finland”. The positive consequence of the Finland were part of one single company. program was that it was followed by solid STX in Korea later acquired Aker Yards in bilateral trade agreements to the great ben- its entirety in 2008, and the new company in › After the closure in 2013, a completely new shipyard was established in Rauma under new ” ownership. 17 N_16-21.indd 17 21.12.2020 7.42 Shipyard Jyrki Heinimaa President and Finland was renamed STX Finland and now owned The company is owned by nine shareholders CEO (left) and all major yards in Finland, with one in each of the with different backgrounds and obviously Timo Suistio three shipbuilding cities. STX spun off the Helsinki with somewhat different interests. How is COO. yard to Russian interests, starting the process in that working? Is that a good concept for the 2011, closed the yard in Rauma in 2013 and finally long term? sold the Turku yard to Meyer Werft in Germany in The company was founded by three people, all of 2014. This resulted in the three yards being totally whom have an entrepreneurial background. Thus, separate from each other. the company’s operational philosophy is based on A long and rather complex history of over 70 entrepreneurship. As our operational activities have years! grown, we have looked for partners from the invest- After the closure in 2013, a completely new ment markets and have selected strong and reliable shipyard was established in Rauma under new operators, which brings depth to our stakeholder ownership, and the operation was started at the collective. For this reason, our owner portfolio is ex- existing facility by the same people who had previ- cellent for this kind of growing company. Right now, ously run the yard before it closed. we have a great stakeholder collective for the con- Below is an interview with Jyrki Heinimaa, cept we have. They are strongly committed to the President and CEO of Rauma Marine Construc- company’s operations long into the future. tion. Having started his 23-year career in Finnish shipbuilding in Rauma, Mr. Heinimaa spent a sig- The city of Rauma played an instrumental nificant amount of time in Turku, and in different role in supporting the reestablishment of positions at the company’s head office, covering all RMC’s operations. Please elaborate on the three major yards in the country. relationship between both the city and RMC, and the city and the yard’s suppliers. RMC has been in business since 2014. Please The city of Rauma bought the docklands and set up summarize the operations and finances of the the Seaside Industry Park to administer the area first six years in a few words? for the use of local businesses, for whom this was In the beginning, RMC was a start-up, which re- an opportunity to expand their operations. For quired us to make various investments in our oper- RMC, it was a chance to establish a new shipyard. ations and productions. The start-up phase of the About 30 companies are currently operating in company lasted until the end of 2018, by which the Seaside Industry Park. In addition to the city, the first successful newbuilding project was deliv- Kongsberg has also invested heavily in the area. ered to the client. After the new sales in 2019, the company entered a growth phase, due to which our City established a (marine) industrial park. financial earning power has grown, and we have How is that functioning? What are the com- now moved onto profitability. petitive advantages for RMC and various sup- pliers? 18 N_16-21.indd 18 21.12.2020 7.42 RMC has those areas at its disposal when needed. oped from the late 1990s operation mode in a way Rauma Seaside Industry Park. Graving dock for There are also other businesses operating within that further emphasizes a network-based mode of Rauma Marine Construction the area. Common costs related to the property are operation. The biggest difference is that RMC has operation in the middle. being shared between a larger group of operators. hardly any of its own employees, such as weld- Seaside Industry Park is responsible for the area’s in- ers. RMC is a project management and technology frastructure and related services. Many of the com- company and, as such, is responsible for designing, panies within our network operate within the indus- planning, coordinating and commissioning the try park, and the synergy it offers benefits everyone. ship building projects, as well as being responsible for deliveries for clients. There is a division of shipbuilding facilities The challenge with network-based operations is between RMC and the company owned by the that the subcontractor chains grow wider. For this city (land, shops, equipment, services, and so reason, RMC has increased the role of supervision on). How is that working out? and coordination, and these sectors are still devel- The industry park operates much like a hotel – we oped further. pay for the facilities based on usage. Some of the Any similar examples in the main equipment needed in operations, such as shipbuilding world? welding equipment, are owned by RMC, which is We have not come across a similar operations also responsible for their maintenance. model elsewhere in the world. Instead, we are look- Do you foresee the city having the same role ing for experiences from like-minded partners and The in the long term, or do you anticipate the docks around the world. development towards a more privatized and industry fully “independent” operation? A main slogan is “partnership” with key sup- park The role of the city will remain as it is, due to the pliers. What are the key features of these ” nature of the industry park. RMC is a lessee of the partnerships? Do these mean truly exclusive operates industry park and we own some of our main equip- and long-term relationships? much like a ment. This arrangement has been agreed upon for Yes, they do. We want to cooperate with such part- a significant period of time. ners that have innovative abilities and know-how. hotel. This can mean, for example, new kinds of technol- RMC claims that it has a novel business/oper- ogies or designs the prospective partner has, or it ation concept in shipbuilding – “a networking can be found from the partner’s network. The part- yard”. Please describe the key features and nership of the future requires you to know how to benefits of that. select the winning team with whom you will nego- The RMC’s operation model has been adapted to tiate the ship trade. correspond with how passenger car ferries and na- Competitive well-established innovation ca- val vessels are built at Rauma shipyard. The RMC’s pability will lead to long-term, exclusive relation- network-based mode of operation has been devel- ships. › 19 N_16-21.indd 19 21.12.2020 7.42 Shipyard What areas do these long-term relationships pared to Tallink’s newest shuttle ferry Megastar, cover: design, hull production, machinery which also operates between Helsinki and Tallinn, and deck outfitting, interior accommodation, the new ferry will have an increased passenger area services...? with more seating, as well as more crew cabins. Long-term relationships can cover various sectors From a technical standpoint, the ferry will have of shipbuilding projects, from planning to finaliza- powerful shore connection equipment and will also tion of the project. be equipped with LNG fuel tanks approximately one third bigger than Megastar.