There was little interest in the second tenders for the assets of the Gdynia and Szczecińska Nowa shipyards. The tenders, which closed last week, were recalled after the winner, a mysteroius Qatari investor, withdrew from the original transaction.

There were no investors interested in purchasing the ship-production assets of either shipyard. In Gdynia a dock was bought by Elektromontaż Północ Warszawa for zł.33 million, while the area for fitting out ships was bought by Gdynia’s Nauta Shiprepair Yard for zł.57 million. In comparison, the state had hoped to earn about zł.300 million from the Gdynia tender.

In Szczecin, only an office building and loading pier found new owners. The tender brought just zł.10 million.

Labor unionists were keeping their fingers crossed that Gdańsk’s Maritim Shipyard would participate in the tender. Its owner had promised to buy Gdynia Shipyard’s assets outright, but it didn’t submit a bid bond before the deadline.

“We are very disappointed. Maritim was the only one which guaranteed that it would maintain 2,000 jobs for shipyard workers. Now we hope some of us will find jobs with new investors,” Jan Gumiński, chairman of the Free Labor Union of Maritime Workers at Gdynia Shipyard, told Polish Radio after the tender closed.

Roma Sarzyńska, a spokesperson for the Industrial Development Agency, which oversees shipyard privatization, said that the unsold property would soon be put on sale in a series of open auctions.