Sevmorverf (Sevastopol Shipyard) - Nationalization

In 2010, the Prime Assets Management fund, which manages the assets of the Ukrprominvest concern Petro Poroshenko, bought out 60% of the shares of the Sevastopol Marine Plant from the Cypriot company Malter Enterprises Limited, controlled by Russian businessman Konstantin Grigorishin. However, after the annexation of the Crimea in 2015, the company, which is owned by Poroshenko, was nationalized by the occupation authorities in favor of Sevastopol. Later, the plant became a branch of the Russian state-owned shipbuilding corporation Zvezdochka.

During the Ukrainian period, the plant lost everything. It lost dormitory, policlinics, sports complex, recreation center as well as a unique pioneer camp presented by Stalin. By 2015 dock gates were in critical condition. One out of two main pumps is out of order; the filter pump is in state of despair. Portal cranes are operated with over-extreme limits. Even canteens and snack bars were closed. The plant was impossible to be operated in that condition. “Sevmorzavod” was in critical condition.

On February 28, 2015, Governor Sergey Menyaylo convened an extraordinary meeting of the city Legislative Assembly. He demanded to nationalize the 35 largest enterprises of Sevastopol owned by the owners in Ukraine. The loudest nationalization was Sevmorzavod, the property of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The "Chocolate Bunny" had reduced the largest shipbuilding base of the hero city to 850 work units. In addition, after the Crimean Spring, the strategic enterprise switched to the orders of the Black Sea Fleet. "Under the conditions of the post-Soviet space, nationalization means only a return to the common property of illegally privatized (in fact, stolen!) Property.

On 28 February 2015 the Sergo Ordzhonikidze Sevastopol Marine Plant was nationalized. The “Sevmorzavod” state unitary enterprise was founded at its premises. On 30 March 2015 the Sevastopol City Government and United Shipbuilding Corporation signed a memorandum on cooperation in order to revive the enterprise. Within a very short period, they signed a treaty between the “Sevmorzavod” SUE and the Sevastopol-based branch of “Zvyozdochka “Ship Repair Centre” JSC. The decision was due to the fact that “Zvyozdochka” is the leading ship repair enterprise, possessing wide experience in operating ship repair branches all over Russia.

Order of January 31, 2018 #127-p a decision was approved to transfer the state unitary enterprise “Sevastopol Marine Plant named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze” to federal ownership with the definition of departmental affiliation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia. Sevastopol Ordzhonikidze Marine Plant, previously owned by the President of Ukraine, became the property of the Russian Federation. The Sevastopol Marine Plant named after Ordzhonikidze was transferred to the federal ownership of Russia. The corresponding order was signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and published on Friday on the official website of the Russian government. From the order of the Government of the Russian Federation: “In order to organize effective work on increasing the load and developing organizations of the Crimean Federal District, a signed order approved the decision to transfer the State Unitary Enterprise Sevastopol Marine Plant named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze from the ownership of the city of Sevastopol to federal property with the definition of departmental affiliation to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia”.

In April 2018 the head of the branch of the SMZ CS Zvezdochka was accused of embezzlement, the deputy head of the branch, and also the head of the State Unitary Enterprise Sevastopol Marine Plant named after Ordzhonikidze and a local resident are complicit in embezzlement. According to the investigators, from April 2016 to September 2017, the director of the branch of the SMZ CS Zvezdochka transferred to the director of the state unitary enterprise Sevastopol Marine Plant named after Ordzhonikidze ”branch funds through a local resident arranged according to bogus documents for the post of assistant branch director.

Sevastopol Marine Plant (SMZ) will become a joint stock company, on the basis of which they will repair ships and vessels of the Russian Navy. To do this, the company must pass certification and create its own design department. The property of the State Unitary Enterprise “Sevastopol Marine Plant named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze” is transferred by the government of the Russian Federation to federal ownership under the authority of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia.

As the deputy director of the company, Georgy Ivanov, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta 03 July 2018, the plant will later become part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation. “We are going to create a single enterprise that will be able to carry out comprehensive repairs and maintenance of ships of the Black Sea Fleet,” Ivanov said. "We are passing through standardization and certification, which will be completed by the end of 2018. After that, the process of incorporation will begin with the transfer to the authorized capital of the USC".

At the same time, the Chernomorets Central Design Bureau will join the structure of the GUP. The enterprise’s own design department is necessary for the enterprise to work on the state defense order. The reorganization of TsKB began last year and caused concern among the staff. The company is in working condition, has licenses and orders from the Navy. If you transfer it to Sevmorzavod SUE before receiving all the certificates, the work will be stopped, and the signed contracts will be under threat. “People and power will remain, but current contracts will have to be renewed,” Ivanov said. - By the time of incorporation, we will be fully prepared to fulfill the state defense order for repair and design work.

Recall that in 2015, in order to provide the SMZ with orders, its main production facilities were leased for 49 years to the center of the Zvezdochka ship repair facility (included in USC). During this time, the plant received its first orders: manufactured pontoon systems that were used to transport arched spans of the Crimean bridge to the installation site, for the first time in 12 years laid a 400-ton floating crane (built to order from the Admiralty Shipyards). The branch of the CS “Zvezdochka” has prepared a program of technical re-equipment and reconstruction of an enterprise worth seven billion rubles. She started this year. The company's management sees the main goal in restoring the leading positions of the Sevmorzavod in the construction of floating cranes, as it was in the Soviet years.

“This year we are openly financed, the plant received the first 900 million rubles for technical re-equipment,” said Igor Drey, director of the Sevastopol branch of Zvezdochka. - By the end of the year we expect to complete the preparation of project documentation for reconstruction, in order to start construction in 2019. Sevastopol Coral Coral Design Bureau prepared a 400-ton crane project for the plant and is now designing a 700-ton crane, which we are planning to conclude a construction contract this year.

Drey told RG that the transfer of the state unitary enterprise Sevastopol Marine Plant to federal ownership and its incorporation would not change the plans for the modernization of Zvezdochka. “These changes will allow us technically and administratively to carry out production tasks and social obligations to the team,” said the director of the branch. SMZ is a plant and people. And the management of Zvezdochka will not change plans until the joint-stock company Sevmorzavod is formed.

At the same time, the civil ship repair and shipbuilding are currently giving the plant the main load. Military orders a bit. This is due to the lack of approvals, certificates and licenses. As Yevgeny Gushchin, head of the ship and ship service and repair service for the Black Sea Fleet, told at the naval forum held in Sevastopol, the Sevastopol 13th SRH Black Sea Fleet and the 5th Ship Repair Plant (a branch of the CS Zvezdochka in Temryuk) remain the main performers. Other state and private companies in the Crimea are not ready to fully service warships, although they have the necessary equipment and specialists for this.

The Crimean enterprises are mainly taken only for hull work, but the ships need to repair mechanisms, including engines, - said Gushchin. - Some of them are imported. We are interested in not carrying engines and other units to St. Petersburg or Vladivostok, when almost everything can be done in the Crimea. But still most of the local factories are not prepared documentation.

The 13th SRH Black Sea Fleet is also undergoing the procedure of incorporation and will become part of the USC. Earlier, the governor of Sevastopol Dmitry Ovsyannikov said that on the basis of the Sevmorzavod will be created ship repair and shipbuilding cluster, oriented for defense orders. It will also include the Central Design Bureau Chernomorets, the 13th and 91st shipyards of the Black Sea Fleet, the 771th repair plant of the communications means of the Black Sea Fleet. The Northern Sea Works is planning to return the northern dock with a length of 290 meters, which has been in private hands since Ukrainian times.

Sevmorzavod has two production sites - the southern and Inkerman total area of 53 hectares. In 2017, 21 vessels were repaired at its facilities, the production volume exceeded 500 million rubles. The order book in 2018 is 2.9 billion rubles. The staff is about 600 people.