Latvia's Riga Shipyard banks on shift to tunnel, bridge construction

Officials at "Rigas kugu buvetava" JSC, also known as Riga Shipyard, based in Riga, Latvia, said recently that increased competition in the ship-repair services segment and construction of new vessels have prompted JSC to shift its focus to the production of large-size metal structures (tunnels, bridges), Janis Skvarnovics, JSC's board chairman, said.

Skvarnovics said that currently, orders for large-size metal structures, including tunnels, in the area of construction services come from Europe rather than from Latvia, but he said that in this perspective, once construction of Rail Baltica begins, local orders may start coming in as well.

Riga Shipyard's economic performance during the first six months of the year is almost equal to that of all of 2014.

Officials said Riga ended 2014 with a loss, while the first six months of this year already show a small profit of $371,949, compared with a loss of $1.06 million for the first six months of 2014.
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