The Galician industry exceeds 90% of its capacity: “Companies hesitate to accept more orders”

2023-08-06 10:48:48

Of the five contracts signed by the industry Spanish shipbuilding company in the second quarter, four will take shape in Vigo, at the facilities of Grupo Armón and Freire Shipyard. Two will be units for oceanographic research –for the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and the Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (Ifremer)–, as well as an ocean patrol boat for the Civil Guard and a maintenance for the British Briggs Marine.

So There are fourteen official orders in the portfoliothe lack of the entry into force of other patrol boats for Uruguay (Cardama) and not counting the charges assigned to Burela (Armón) or tied by smaller companies such as Gestido, Montenegro, Aister or Mínimo Boats.

“There are good feelings in the navy, the end of the shocks with Barreras has been important”,

Enrique Mallón-General Secretary of the Association of Metal Industries and Associated Technologies of Galicia (Asime)

“We think it’s going to get better.” He is a feeling shared by all industrial activities in the areas of Vigo and Pontevedra, with a heavy workload despite the “slight stagnation” in recent weeks. That obeys a temporary factor and another already structural: the first is the “more expensive credit” due to the rise in rates by central banks; the second, the lack of capacity.

“We are above 90%, close to the limit, there are companies that think a lot about whether or not to accept new orders,” he says. Despite the stoppages due to breaks in the supply chains -mainly due to the lack of semiconductors-, the contribution of Stellantis Vigo has been decisive so that the olive port has been able to surpass that of Valencia in the movement of vehicles from all over Spain, and the factory The fourth production shift will soon start up.

The diversification of clients and markets of component suppliers, with a dizzying adaptation towards decarbonisation, places the Galician automotive industry at a good time. Identical to that of the companies that manufacture capital goods –such as those of canned goods or wood–, which are “on top”. Those of extruded aluminum, for example, also have a “very high” level of activity today. In the opinion of Asime, which brings together the bulk of the community’s metallurgical sector, it is possible to grow, but by attacking those structural factors. “You can, but we have to have more staff and attract new investments”.

The lack of labor, specialized and unskilled, expands everywhere without containment dams. The United States figures around 650,000 construction workers it needs to meet demand, even penalized by the Federal Reserve rate hike; Canada urges workers for the meat industry, which is not enough; There is a lack of forklift drivers in all the countries of the Eurozone and the United Kingdom has decided to soften the entry requirements to the country to incorporate carpenters, marble workers or masons. It is exactly what the construction and hospitality employers demand in Galicia – as FARO advanced this week – and metal. “We have already claimed it from the Government. No country wants to get rid of its skilled labor”, recalls Mallón. They also know it in the natural stone exploitations of O Porriño, as explained by the general secretary of the Granite Cluster, José Ángel Lorenzo. “The templates need to be renewed, it’s a natural effect”. Employees are retiring and need to be replaced, even though the private sector is betting more and more on state-of-the-art machinery and equipment. In its case, granite maintains a firm commitment to dual professional training, with a second promotion that has attracted more followers among the Cluster associates.

The industry as a whole shares the claim in favor of FP, and regrets at the same time its “little success” when it comes to permeating the central government. Also, Enrique Mallón points out, there is a “reduced part” of the younger population that “does not have much motivation” to enter the labor market, at least in these branches of activity.