Six months after the announcement of the acquisition of Astilleros Balenciaga by SAFEEN Drydocks, a subsidiary of AD Ports Group, the historic Basque shipyard has resumed its activity with the placement of the first keel of its new phase. The ceremony, customary in shipbuilding to commemorate the physical start of a new vessel, usually coincides with the assembly of the first blocks of the structure in the dock. The facility, which in recent years had specialized in the offshore sector, seeks to rebuild its activity around specialized tugboats and support vessels for maritime operations.
Astilleros Balenciaga, founded in 1921, has built hundreds of vessels throughout its history, including units for the Spanish Navy. In recent years, it focused its production on the offshore sector before facing financial difficulties that threatened the closure of the facility in the last quarter of 2024. The crisis jeopardized the continuity of a plant with more than a century of history in Basque shipbuilding.
SAFEEN Drydocks announced in January the purchase of the Spanish shipyard for 11.2 million euros (13.1 million dollars) as part of a strategy to expand its shipbuilding and repair operations and strengthen its position in Spain and the Mediterranean. The company was established in June 2023 as a joint venture in which AD Ports Group holds a 51% stake, a port and maritime services operator based in Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with Premier Marine Engineering Services, a firm developing a shipyard at Khalifa port. SAFEEN Drydocks is part of Noatum Maritime, a division of AD Ports Group.
During the keel-laying ceremony, the Basque Government's Minister of Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability, Mikel Jauregi, stated: "Today we celebrate that Balenciaga is back." The minister added that "it has been a long and arduous journey, but we never gave up."
The first project of the new phase pertains to a support tug for offshore operations, one of two such tugs commissioned from the shipyard. This type of unit is commonly used for positioning, towing, and logistical support to platforms and marine structures, including floating or fixed wind farms. Balenciaga Shipyard, the new name of the facility, claims to have an "active order book" that positions it as a "credible and competitive" builder for the European offshore renewable energy sector.
The shipyard will seek new contracts in the offshore wind sector and plans to leverage SAFEEN's relationship with Masdar, the state renewable energy company of the United Arab Emirates, which has increased its investments in offshore renewable energy in Europe in recent years. Masdar is one of the UAE's clean energy companies with the greatest international presence.
Under the new ownership, the shipyard plans to invest in its workforce, facilities, process automation, and supply chain. Balenciaga Shipyard has two dry docks, a 105-meter berth, a manufacturing plant, and a cutting facility. The dry docks allow vessels to be beached for construction, repair, or maintenance tasks, while the berth is used for assembling and launching boats into the water.
The keel-laying ceremony was held on July 16. The officials present at the event referred to the ceremony as a "recovery and renewal" of one of the most traditional shipbuilding facilities in the Basque Country.
In addition to tugboats and offshore support vessels, the shipyard plans to build other types of specialized marine vessels. In the past, the facility built commercial fishing vessels, and more recently, service operation vessels (SOVs), used in the maintenance and logistical support of offshore wind farms, for companies like North Star Shipping and Edda Wind.
The segment of support vessels for offshore wind farms has gained traction in European shipyards in recent years, as offshore wind energy projects have proliferated across the continent. The revival of Balenciaga takes place in this context and at a time of expansion for AD Ports Group in shipbuilding and repair in the Mediterranean.