The Dutch shipbuilding company Damen announced the intention to withdraw from the Damen Shipyards joint venture Mangalia, controlled by the Romanian government, which manages the construction site Mangalia naval on the Black Sea, formerly named Santierul Naval 2 Mai. The joint venture was formed in 2018 as part of the initiative of the Romanian Government Executive of Bring the plant back under state ownership ( of 11 January, 23 March and 23 July 2018).

Giving news of the decision of the Dutch company, the media Romanians explained that Damen complained that a recent new Law on State-owned Companies would de facto revoked the legal framework on the basis of which it was possible set up the joint venture and that the new rules would violate the conditions in favour of Damen agreed in 2018 with the State Romanian, completely invalidating the conditions underlying which Damen had decided to invest in the yard.

In addition, Damen complained that in the last three years the state Romanian would have blocked the decision-making processes and the construction site would not would have benefited from no aid or funding from the Romanian public partner.

In a statement, Liana Constantin, CFO of Damen Romania, urging the Romanian State and shareholders to find a solution quickly, highlighted that in the last Four years the shipbuilding company, which has over 1,500 employees and more than 600 subcontractors, paid 185 million of euros between salaries, taxes and other charges and has no debts in the towards the State. "In 2018 - underlined Constantin - the Mangalia shipyard had no more orders, had negative balance sheets, with debts of over 730 million euro in the accounting records presented when Damen took over the activity. We have relaunched the shipyard on a market completely different, since the previous market does not It existed anymore, it was exhausted. Damen bore the costs for the relaunch of the shipyard on the European market and on the European market international. Damen - the manager specified - does not leave the Romania, where has the Galati shipyard which was purchased 20 years ago and that is a successful business. We do not even want to leave Mangalia - he remarked - but for contribute to the development of offshore projects: in this sector, for example - he explained - soon Mangalia Shipyard will deliver in New York an offshore plant that will power about 600,000 homes in the USA, after which we will deliver a structure largest to a customer in Europe. The wind market Offshore is a €200 billion market. In Europe there are are only five shipyards able to do what Mangalia can do in the offshore industry'.