New wind in Baltic shipyards' sails

A British film company, Breakthru, which co-produced the Polish-British Oscar-winner, Peter and the Wolf, also hopes to open a new studio on part of the old Gdynia premises.

More investors, including state-owned firm Nauta, have been tipped to expand Gdynia's horizons. Projects include building towers for the extraction of recently discovered shale gas deposits, well as equipment for oil extraction, writes the Meto daily.

The new investment is a good news story in an area which has been badly affected by unemployment since the fall of communism, as old industries, like ship building, become no longer viable.

Two years ago, the European Commission ordered Poland to sell a pair of its historic shipyards on the Baltic coast.

Over 9000 workers lost their jobs following the 2009 ruling, with 5000 staff being made redundant in Gdynia and 4000 in Szczecin.

The EU ruling came after repeated bids to bail out the historic shipyards, which were the site of many of many workers protests in the 1970s and 1980s.

Ultimately, the European Commission decided that continued state aid by Poland broke the EU’s competition law.

After state aid was recalled, the yards faced bankruptcy.

Only Gdansk was granted a final salvage package.

Today, Gdansk Shipyard, the home to the protests in 1980 which led to the founding of the Solidarity trade union, is currently seeking 400 new workers; next week, a new investor is due to be announced who will start building ships again in Szczecin. (nh/pg)