US Congress approves DFC US$125 mln loan to ONEX Shipyards to reopen, upgrade Elefsina unit

The US Congress approved a US International Development Finance Corp. (DFC) plan to allocate a 125-million-US dollar loan to Syros island-based ONEX Shipyards for the reopening of the Elefsina Shipyards, west of Piraeus.

According to ONEX, the figure is higher than the 102 million US dollars initially allocated for the borrowing scheme, while the DFC’s board of directors has already completed all internal procedures for approval of the loan from mid-May 2023.

According to an announcement by ONEX, a special law was ratified by the US Congress two years ago with bipartisan support in order to facilitate the loan plan, which marks the first and only, so far, DFC financing towards Greece.

ONEX is the lead investor in the scheme to rejuvenate and upgrade the Elefsina Shipyards, increasing the facility’s capacity to being able to work on some 200 vessels annually.

The development comes after this week’s signing of MoUs between Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri and Elefsina Shipyards, held at the latter’s premises.

In a press release on Sunday, Fincantieri said the MoUs were signed “with a selection of potential new suppliers, in the context of the high-profile process pursued by the Hellenic Minister of National Defence for the construction of four corvettes and the provision of Integrated Logistic Support (ILS) and In Service Support (ISS).”

Both shipbuilder Fincantieri and aerospace multinational signed the MoUs, whichwill “set the basis for defining possible business relationships for specific supplies.”

The MoUs were signed with the following Greece-based companies: Sunlight Group Energy Storage Systems SA, General Commercial and Industrial SA, Farad SA Heat Exchangers, Environmental Protection Engineering SA, G. Ligeros OE (Psyctotherm), SSA SA, Elfon, and Tecross SA.