Mangalia Shipyard enters bankruptcy
Mangalia Shipyard, one of the most important in Europe, faces bankruptcy.
Leyla Cheamil, 07.04.2026, 13:50
Romania is going through a difficult phase, during this period, marked by increases in taxes, duties and prices. In turn, the heavy industry is receiving a blow with the closure of the Damen Mangalia Shipyard on the Black Sea, the largest industrial naval platform in the country and one of the most important in Europe, which is going bankrupt. The announcement was made after the Meeting of Creditors rejected, on Monday, the reorganization plan proposed by the judicial administrator. Therefore, current activity will be gradually stopped and liquidation procedures will be initiated. The shipyard, where the Romanian state is the majority shareholder with 51%, with the Dutch company Damen having 49% of the shares, has been insolvent since June 2024, and, due to the lack of orders, the situation had become critical.
The National Trade Union Bloc has warned that this situation generates a major social impact at the local level and requires urgent attention from the Romanian state. In fact, employees protested in front of the company’s headquarters on Monday, dissatisfied and worried that they will have to look for new jobs. The Economy Minister, Irineu Darău, has said that the shipyard will not be abandoned, the state will seek solutions to protect the country’s strategic interest in the naval industry. The minister has also said that the immediate priority is the people, and the payment of outstanding salaries is underway.
According to the official, the amounts for December 2025, January and February 2026 are in the payment procedure. “In parallel, we are working on the next stage. Bankruptcy means closing the current form of organization, putting the shipyard into conservation and laying off employees, but it also creates the framework in which new solutions can be found and built. The objective is to intelligently capitalize on existing assets and create the conditions for resuming activity, either by attracting investors or through other viable formulas”, minister Irineu Darău has emphasized. He has added that the Economy Ministry will use all available instruments to protect both the industrial capacity and the company’s employees. “The most important thing is to facilitate sustainable and durable investments for the future. I pledge to do everything in my power to create these perspectives”, Irineu Darău said.
The company’s judicial administrator has recently announced that Damen Mangalia Shipyard is entering the race for a strategic investor and a reorganization plan has been presented. In 2018, Damen invested in Mangalia Shipyard, acquiring the majority stake from the Korean company Daewoo, then agreeing to cede 2% of the shares to the Romanian state that became the majority shareholder, with 51%, on the condition that the Dutch partner has operational and managerial control of the shipyard. (LS)
