According to local newspapers Faro de Vigo and La Voz de Galicia, citing sources close to the Barreras shipyard, its president, Jose García Costas, will resign, along with the CEO, Alfonso López Loureiro, and the CFO, Juan Manuel González. A new board of directors is expected to be appointed next week. These dismissals, ordered by the shipyard's largest shareholder, PEMEX, with 51%, are reportedly a response to pressure from The Ritz-Carlton, due to the project's delivery delays and cost overruns, which are the underlying cause of their discontent.
In recent weeks, these same newspapers have published reports that Barreras is negotiating a significant 6-month delay in the delivery of the ship, as well as significant cost overruns amounting to more than 50 million euros.
The construction of the Evrima, the first ship in The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, proceeded smoothly until Barreras began work on two more vessels for the Norwegian shipping company Havila Kystruten. Havila Kystruten first encountered funding problems, and then design issues with Havyard Design, which necessitated lengthening the ships to accommodate the enormous weight of the batteries, as they will be hybrid vessels. Although Havila claims to have resolved its funding problems, negotiations are underway regarding the additional costs of the new ship design, and until this issue is resolved, the funds will not be released.
This situation created cash flow problems at the shipyard that were passed on to the subcontractors, which could have had consequences for delivery deadlines.
In any case, the Galician shipyard is going through a bitter moment, with the largest order book in its history, 900 million euros, but a financial and interest tangle that makes it difficult to get out of the situation.
