The Malta Shipyards made a step backward in 2006.

Since the restructuring programme was implemented in 2003, the situation at the shipyards seemed to have improved, although the company still remained in the red.

But there was a big difference in the results achieved. In 2002, the company had registered a Lm23 million loss when a Lm19.9 million loss had been budgeted. A year later, the loss dropped to Lm19.7 million, but it was nearly double the Lm10.8 million loss projected for that year.

Things started to go slightly better in 2004, when the actual loss of Lm9.5 million was close to the projected Lm10.1 million loss. A similar result was achieved in 2005, when an Lm8.7 million loss was registered when an Lm8.8 million loss was estimated.

But, last year, the Malta Shipyards was “well off target”, as Chief Executive Officer Christopher Bell told a news conference last week. The company had projected a further cut in its losses to Lm6 million, but ended with a deficit of Lm9.3 million.

The valid point Mr Bell made during the conference was that if the company managed to retain the productivity levels that had been reached in 2004, the deficit would have been some Lm5.5 million, well within the Lm6 million that had been targeted.

This would have been another step forward towards profitability but instead the company has taken a hard blow. As things stand now, it is hard to imagine that the target that has been set for 2007 – a Lm4.6 million loss – will be reached unless there is a drastic change in the way things operate at the yard.

The issues that were raised by the company as having been the reasons that led to a turn for the worse during 2006 were the levels of productivity – which the company believes must be drastically improved – the lack of discipline and, most of all, a mentality that is not consonant with the company’s desire to move forward.

Now that the restructuring process has been completed and the company is running on commercial lines, the workers – and this includes all categories – need to adapt to the new circumstances and make sure that they deliver what is due. They must understand that there will come a time – soon enough – that the government will no longer be able to pump in money.

In his presentation, Mr Bell said that time-keeping was not being carried out well, supervision was not effective and more employees than necessary were being assigned to jobs. These are all issues that need to be addressed for the company to survive. And this has to be done quickly.

As chairman John Cassar White explained, the company has managed to attract lucrative contracts and has succeeded to shake off a shady reputation, but at the same time “it is useless to attract massive contracts if we still cannot achieve profitability. We must get rid of this sense of dependency that the shipyards have on the state”.

And this is where the real problem lies. Because time is running out on Malta Shipyards. The government can no longer subsidise the company after 2008, and this therefore means that the company must drastically improve its output in the next 18 months, as otherwise the future is going to be very bleak for the 1,700 workers.

Investments, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt made things very clear last week, when he said that all workers must give their 100 per cent for the whole duration of their eight-hour shift.

The workers must realise that their future is at stake here.