The Minister for Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, with the CEO of PYMAR, Almudena López

The Minister for Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, met with the CEO of PYMAR, Almudena López, and the Secretary General of PYMAR, José Francisco Fernández, to discuss the current state of the sector, which, according to the Minister, "is a strategic sector for our economy that represents the effort, innovation, and resilience of our industry." He also noted that last year marked PYMAR's 40th anniversary, "four decades of service to the Spanish shipbuilding sector, during which it has established itself as a benchmark for public-private partnership and as a key player in the modernisation, internationalisation, and sustainability of our shipbuilding industry."

During the meeting, PYMAR conveyed to the Minister the excellent state of Spanish private shipyards, which position our country at the forefront of the global shipbuilding industry and as a key sector for the strategic autonomy of Spain and the European Union.

The Spanish shipbuilding industry generates more than 88,700 jobs (+15% year-on-year) and contributes over €12.7 billion to the Spanish economy (+21% year-on-year).

In 2025, private shipyards recorded their highest level of activity in the last 15 years, with 65 vessels on order worth more than €3 billion.

Spain is the second largest shipbuilding power in the EU in terms of contracts and order book, with more than 90% of contracts destined for export, and builds more than 20% of the global order book with hydrogen-based capabilities. It is also the leading power in the EU in offshore wind energy, oceanographic research, aquaculture, and passenger transport.

At the same time, Spanish private shipyards recorded over a thousand major repair and conversion projects, with a revenue increase of more than 15% compared to the average of the previous five years.

European Union Industrial Maritime Strategy

During the meeting, they discussed the work carried out over the past year in the process of developing the European Union's new Industrial Maritime Strategy, approved on 4 March by the European Commission. The leadership role that Spanish private shipyards can play in this new roadmap for strengthening the European shipbuilding industry was highlighted.

PYMAR actively collaborated in the preparatory work, in coordination with the Ministry, submitting proposals and participating in the strategic dialogues held in Brussels.

In this regard, Jordi Hereu emphasised the importance of "working on the future needs of this sector from the perspective of competitiveness, diversification, internationalisation, and the required human talent."

For her part, Almudena López del Pozo stressed that "our shipyards have reached record levels of activity and are leading key markets for European strategic autonomy. At a time when Europe needs to strengthen its industrial capabilities in defence and security, the Spanish private shipbuilding industry offers a solid, innovative industrial base committed to the transformation towards sustainability and digitalisation."

In this context, the growing demand in strategic sectors such as marine renewable energy, freight and passenger transport, food-through fishing and aquaculture-and defence and security, represents a great opportunity for the Spanish shipbuilding industry. Spanish private shipyards already hold a consolidated leadership position in all these key markets for strategic autonomy.

The needs arising from the strengthening of European strategic industrial capabilities, as well as the commitment to energy and food security, and the decarbonisation of maritime transport, open up a horizon of growth for which Spanish private shipyards are in a privileged position to contribute resources and expertise.

The role that Spanish private shipyards can play in the defence and security sector has been highlighted, noting that they have built more than 100 vessels related to this sector in the last 25 years and are projected to reach their highest historical activity in this segment by 2025, representing 11% of their current order book. Strengthening the private naval industrial base means reinforcing defence production capacity and increasing strategic autonomy in the naval military sector.

Finally, a review was given of the main instruments available to the Spanish private shipbuilding industry to preserve and boost its international competitiveness, and the participation of PYMAR, which saw its Fitch rating upgraded to A- this past year, in Spanish private shipyard operations during 2025 for the construction of 12 new vessels with a combined value exceeding €575 million, was highlighted.

Non official translation