MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian shipbuilding industry needs state support badly, Russian Shipbuilding Agency Director General Vladimir Pospelov said on Friday.
"I am not speaking about the money, I mean at least adoption of a law on state support of the shipbuilding industry," Pospelov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
He said he regretted that the previous State Duma lower house of Russian parliament did not manage to approve the law in the final reading. Ukraine has endorsed the law and put it in operation, though its draft was based on Russian specialists' developments, the industrialist noted.
Another problem that slows down development of the shipbuilding industry is poor readiness of the banking sphere to grant loans to shipyards, Pospelov went on.
Western banks loan money for production of civil vessels for a period of 15 years with a yearly interest rate of seven to eight percent. "Banks only need guarantees. They understand that they invest money in a reliable business and get their interest," Pospelov stressed.
According to him, the shipbuilding has two objective factors, these being a long production cycle and huge investments. "For instance, it takes several years to build a serious vessel, while it takes 40 days for a brewery to make beer. The brewery is not even taxed when it has managed to produce beer, sell it and gain profits," Pospelov said.
The director expressed his regret over lack of funds among Russian customers. At the same time, he praised the Russian government's decision to reimburse a part of interest in Savings Bank loans for construction of riverine and sea-going vessels at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg. According to Pospelov, it is expedient to apply the scheme to other shipbuilding programs.
In addition, the Russian shipbuilding industry suffers from the absence of a developed leasing system in relations between the customer and shipbuilder. However Pospelov said he was hoping that the problem would be solved in the near future, too.