62
HIGHS AND LOWS
In 2007, the shipbuilding market was
experiencing an unprecedented
spike in orders. This was due to an
extended period of economic growth
and Asia entering the markets.
Maritime transport was massive
and new ships were needed. People were
doing well financially, which led to increased
demand in cruise ships. However, the large
demand presented certain problems to ship
designers – costs were rising, and there was a
shortage of employees.
“We should look for sustainable solutions
by training foreign talents and integrating
them into our company. The shortage in
manpower can’t be solved by bringing in
temporary employees who just come and
collect their pay check at the expense of
Finnish shipbuilding,” said Jukka Laiterä to
the Turun Sanomat newspaper in September
2007.
“These days, most of our clients and
partners are from Asia and the United
States. Asia and especially China are huge
possibilities for the shipbuilding industry
because of their large markets. Vietnam is
another emerging country in the business.
We can only hope that people have patience
and that we won’t see a sudden drop in the
business.”
Two months after this interview,
Deltamarin’s executive board was
reorganised and Laiterä left the company.
Jarmo Tuhkanen, who had earlier worked
as the company lawyer, was named the new
Managing Director of Deltamarin Contracting.
Shortly afterwards, Deltamarin Contracting
was closed and all functions and activities
were centralised within Deltamarin.
“As a company, we weren’t doing so well
at the time,” says Markku Kanerva. “We lost a
substantial group of people from our concept
department around that time. We lost too
much competence then, and it was hard to
find experienced people to replace them.”
“Our Miami office wasn’t doing so great
either and, after a couple of episodes, we were
forced to close it down. That was a terrible
blow; we lost some of our shipowner clients
there, and that was all because so much of our
talent had left us. The markets went downhill
at the same time,” says Kanerva.
Despite these difficulties, Deltamarin ended
the decade on a high note as the company
won a major design contract from Allseas.
The Swiss-based Allseas Group awarded the
complete detailed design of their Pioneering
Spirit (originally named Pieter Schelte) project
to Deltamarin. The vessel was intended for
decommissioning platforms, topsides and
jackets in the offshore oil and gas fields, but