Davie Buys Second Finnish Shipyard to Integrate Operations
Canada’s Davie shipbuilding is buying a second, smaller shipyard in Finland as it looks to integrate its operations, focusing on Arctic projects, including large icebreakers. The Mantyluoto shipyard in Pori, Finland, will be integrated with the Helsinki Shipyard, which David acquired at the end of 2023.
The shipyard is being acquired from Finnish energy company Enersense at a cost of €7.5 million, with the acquisition expected to be completed by the end of September 2025. Enersense acquired the yard in 2021, highlighting its expertise in steel constructions for the Arctic. The yard had previously delivered the frame for the world’s first floating offshore wind turbine and built a pilot offshore wind power project for deployment in icy conditions. Known as Enersense Offshore, the company emphasized the opportunities in offshore wind development.
Media reports indicate the yard employs about 100 people. However, currently, the operations are furloughed.
“The Enersense Marine and Offshore Unit possesses unique expertise in steel production for the Arctic marine industry,” said Kim Salmi, CEO of Helsinki Shipyard. The companies emphasize by integrating operations, Helsinki Shipyard will become Finland’s only specialized shipbuilder with capacities ranging from design to final assembly. The plan calls for the Mantyluoto yard to focus on block production, which will be supplied to the yards in Helsinki and Canada.
Davie made the acquisitions in Finland, emphasizing the opportunities to tap the deep expertise in icebreakers as opportunities were emerging in Canada, the United States, and elsewhere.
In March 2025, Davie entered into an agreement with the Canadian government to build a Polar Max vessel based on Aker Arctic’s original Aker ARC 148 hull form. The vessel, which will be 22,800 tonnes with a length of 138.5 meters, will be an icebreaker functioning as a research vessel and capable of performing oil spill response operations and emergency towing.
Block production for the first vessel will begin as soon as possible as soon as possible reports Helsinki Shipyard, with the first phase at Mantyluoto. The hull assembly and completion will be undertaken at the Helsinki Yard before the vessel transfers to Davie in Canada for final outfitting and commissioning.
Using this new model, Davie is strengthening its capabilities to build multiple special-purpose vessels simultaneously.
Last month, Davie announced it would also acquire facilities in Galveston and Port Arthur, Texas, from Gulf Cooper & Manufacturing. It will gain a shipbuilding capability in the United States as it looks to bid for future U.S. icebreaker projects.
Former STX Shipyard For Sale as Investors Seek to Cash Out After Turnaround
Once one of the leading shipbuilders in South Korea, the former STX Yard, which was relaunched as K Shipbuilding, is celebrating a remarkable turnaround. According to a report in The Korean Economic Daily, after having posted its first profit in 14 years, the investment group with revived the shipbuilder is now looking to cash out.
KHI Investment and United Asset Management Company (UAMCO), South Korea's biggest bad debt investor, took control of the troubled shipbuilder in 2021, paying more than $180 million for the company. Timing was ideal as shipbuilding was entering a strong upcycle, and although they were a smaller mid-sized yard, the business, renamed K Shipbuilding, was able to grow quickly.
The investment group believes that despite the slowing in orders, it is still a good time to cash out with the news report saying they are seeking as much as $732 million for the company. As part of the sale, KED reports that UAMCO also seeks a debt refinancing of more than $100 million in financing provided to restore K Shipbuilding. The investors have also decided to exclude bids from foreign private equity investors instead seeking a Korean buyer for the company, which it views as a strategic asset for Korea.
STX was a thriving company with 1,500 employees in Korea in 2017, shortly before it collapsed. It had grown quickly, adding international operations, but suffered badly from the downturn in shipbuilding at the end of the 2000s and into the 2010s. After a series of refinancing and asset sales, STX went into receivership in 2016.
The Korean Economic Daily reports that the company last year posted its first profit in 14 years. The forecast is that the yard could exceed 1 trillion won ($735 million) in revenues in 2025. It would be the first time the company has reached those levels since 2019.
The Korean shipbuilding looks to new emerging opportunities as the Trump administration looks to counter China’s dominance of shipbuilding. Last year, Hanwha Ocean also broke into the U.S. Navy repair sector, and reports are that Korea’s midsized shipbuilders are looking to follow, also bidding for U.S. Navy projects.
In addition to its investment in K Shipbuilding, KHI also joined an investor consortium that acquired another midship shipbuilder, Daehan Shipbuilding. Like STX, it had fallen on hard times and went through more than a decade of debt refinancing. KHI is the last remaining investor, and it has announced plans for Daehan to go public on the Korean Stock Exchange later this month.
HD Hyundai Partners Up With Indian Shipbuilder Cochin
South Korean shipbuilding leader HD Hyundai has signed up with Indian shipbuilding giant Cochin Shipyard on a deal to share design work, technology and equipment supply chains. The agreement also provides for workforce training programs.
South Korea has some of the world's most advanced shipyards, but a shortage of skilled labor is a constant hurdle, and the nation's shipbuilders are increasingly dependent upon foreign workers recruited from Vietnam and Thailand. Some Korean shipbuilders are experimenting with foreign yard locations, like Samsung's block-building yard in China or HD Hyundai's newly reopened facility in Subic Bay. These ventures use Korean shipbuilding know-how and technology, but located in areas where there is a large available workforce.
Like other foreign partnerships, the objective of the deal with Cochin is to "transplant Korean shipbuilding DNA" into India, HD Hyundai said in a statement. Cochin is majority state-owned, and is the largest government yard in India. It can build complex vessels, including India's aircraft carriers, and has delivered 70 ships of various sizes over the past five years (including 10 warships).
In addition to technical and training cooperation, the two parties have agreed to look for new shipbuilding orders together on the international market, as partners. This would bring together HD Hyundai's market presence and reputation with Cochin's capacity for expansion.
In the United States, HD Hyundai has signed similar agreements with defense leader Huntington Ingalls and with offshore vessel builder/operator Edison Chouest, each for different market segments. The objective of the Chouest partnership is to target orders for LNG-fueled container ships, taking advantage of Chouest's infrastructure and HD Hyundai's extensive experience in LNG technology.
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