Ship building and repair, a mainstay of Ukraine’s economy since the days of Catherine the Great, are on the upswing

Ship building and repair, a mainstay of Ukraine’s economy since the days of Catherine the Great, are on the upswing. Smart Maritime Group, which unites the shipyards of Kherson and Mykolayiv, nearly doubled its ship repair volume last year, to 78 vessels, compared to 46 in 2016. “There is a gradual resumption of ties with our traditional European counterparties,” Vasily Fedin, Smart’s general director, tells UNIAN. Noting that Smart is building two chemical tanker hulls for Holland’s VEKA, he added. “We hope this contract will renew the interest of European customers in our capabilities.”