Alexandria Shipyard
Alexandria Shipyard is considered one of great castles of heavy industries and it has been pioneering industry of shipbuilding and repairing in Egypt and the Middle East since it was created in 1962. Alex shipyard is located inside the free zone of the western port of Alexandria in the heart of the line destined to and from the Far East. It is located in the southern Mediterranean port in the western port of Alexandria, with an area about 400,000 square meters and the total length of approximately 1,200 meters yards. It is in n a position to provide services to all ships entering the port of Alexandria and it is considered a free zone.
Alexandria Shipyard celebrated the inauguration of a project on manufacturing the first GOWIND warship as part of efforts by the Egyptian Armed Forces to maintain the Naval Forces efficiency. Adm. Jean-Christophe Director of Africa and the Middle East, ofn the General Authority for arming in the French Ministry of Defense and High-level delegation visited Alexandria Shipyard Company on 27 September 2016. As part of ongoing cooperation between the Alexandria Shipyard Company and DCNS in technology transfer and exchange of experiences, received Marine Industries & services Organization and Alexandria Shipyard Company.
The yard has two building berths. On of the berths, it is possible to build general cargo vessels up to 57,000 tdw with an annual maximum building capacity of 230000 tdw. President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi inaugurated on Saturday 30-05-2015 development works at Alexandria Shipyard Company. ASY initiated a three year upgrade program, to be capable to design, build and prepare the commercial vessels up to 57,000 tons with the total of 50.000 tons of annual steel production and an annual maximum building capacity of 230000 tdw. Docking facilities are afforded for vessels up to 10,000 tdw in the small dock, and for vessels up to 85.000 tdw in the big dock.
In July 2011 Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Commander of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense and Military Production, witnessed the launching ceremony of the first ship production of Alexandria Shipyard after transferring to the ministry of Defense, RORO Ship “Al Hurreya 3”, the biggest ship ever built by the Egyptian hands at Alexandria Shipyard [Gross tonnage: 17,141 tons, Summer DWT: 11,350 tons].
The contract was signed between the Armament Authority (the Ministry of defense of the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt) and Alexandria Shipyard with MPC (Munch Meyer Petersen Marine GmbH, Hamburg, Germany) for Building & Delivery of RO-RO vessel (N27) six thousand (6000) metric tons deadweight. The vessel was built under the survey of Lioyds Register of shipping. Delivery Date of ( N27 ) at 07/04/2005. Contract was signed for building & delivery of Ro-Ro (N28) which it’s the sister vessel yard number N27 for the Ministry of defense, Armament Authority of A.R.E. ,The vessel was built under the survey of Lloyds Register of shipping. Delivery Date of ( N28 ) at 30/06/2007.
The ownership of the company has evolved since its foundation in 1960. Ownership was transferred to the Holding Co. for Maritime Transport in 1993. With this transfer, the company joined the public business sector. In 2003 the company was merged into the Ministry of Defense’s Marine Industries and Services Organization which is affiliated with the Armed Forces. Therefore, everything that happens within the company has become subject to and within jurisdiction of military courts, according to military law. But the change in affiliation was not coupled with any change in the nature of the establishment or in the system of employment relationships, which remained subject to public business law.
In May 2016, workers at the Alexandria Shipyard Company staged a sit-in at the port. In addition to protesting deteriorating wages and inadequate safety procedures, workers demanded payment of promised bonuses, which the company refused to honor, permanent contracts for 36 temporary workers who should have received them already by law, health insurance, and the dismissal of the company's general manager.. They objected to the bonus granted by the armed forces for the month of Ramadan (EGP75.00, or less than US$8.50), and they demanded that the company pay the outstanding liabilities of its employee fellowship fund and that a date be set for issuing promotions. They also demanded that a percentage of profits, specifically those of previous years, be distributed to the company’s workers.
In response to the action, management locked out the workers, and 26 were arrested and summoned in front of a military court on charges of preventing other workers from doing their jobs, as well as halting production, under Article 5 of the Constitution. They were surprised to find military riot police and the director of the Office of the Commander in Chief of Egyptian Naval Forces, who told them provocatively that “no one treats us like this. We’re ready to close it down – it’s no problem for us. Anyone who has a right should return to his workstation and demand it from there. But because of the approach you’ve taken, you have no entitlements whatsoever”.
They faced the charges of “inciting workers in the company’s various departments to cease work, calling for assembly, and organizing a protest inside the company in order to disrupt operations; and thus, achieve a common purpose, namely the fulfilment of the demands explained in the report by the company’s security department that is enclosed with the investigations. This could have caused a strike across all of the company’s departments and harmed public interest”. Under the Egyptian Criminal Code, the workers face punishments ranging from six months to six years of imprisonment.
The Alexandria Shipyard Company cannot be considered a military facility, and workers at it cannot be considered military workers. Rather, they are civilian workers who joined the company years ago when the company was part of the public sector, which is a civilian sector. Therefore, the workers are subject to labor regulation under civil law.
The military court is an effectuation of Article 204 of the amended Egyptian Constitution passed in the January 2014 referendum.[10] This article inaugurated a new era of trying civilians militarily in the wake of the June 30 popular movement. The representative of the armed forces in the constitution-drafting committee insisted not only on preserving the text in the 2012 Constitution that permitted the trial of civilians before the military courts under specific circumstances, but also on elaborating and expanding these circumstances and thereby extending the military court’s jurisdiction.
