Yury Gordienkov, ex-head of Izhorskiye Zavody PJSC, has become the new CEO of Baltiysky Zavod JSC (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation OJSC). He replaced Alexei Kadilov, who had been in charge of the enterprise for about ten years. Analysts noted that before his appointment, Mr. Gordienko was at the enterprise in the position of special representative of Rosatom, the main customer of the shipyard. The personnel reshuffle is a logical step in the transfer of control over the Baltic Shipyard from USC to a state corporation, experts say.
The Board of Directors of JSC Baltiysky Zavod decided to elect Yury Gordienkov to the position of General Director of the plant for a period of five years. On May 3, the USC press service officially announced this. The head of the state corporation Alexei Rakhmanov, as a strategic task for the new leader, outlined the development of the shipyard in terms of increasing production volumes. “The plant needs technical modernization and transition to modern methods of large-block construction,” Mr. Rakhmanov emphasized.
Alexey Kadilov has headed the Baltic Shipyard since November 2013. He left the post by agreement of the parties in April 2023. Experts noted that Mr. Kadilov is 71 years old, an age that implies legal retirement. After him, for a short time, Andrey Buzinov, the first deputy general director of USC, was the acting head of the enterprise.
Yury Gordienkov headed PJSC Izhora Plants for the past three years, but was dismissed last year by a unanimous decision of the board of directors. “It is noteworthy that at that time (in April 2023 – Kommersant-SPb) Mr. Gordienkov had been at the Baltic Shipyard for several weeks as a special representative of Rosatom. From a legal point of view, Baltiysky Zavod JSC is not connected with Rosatom, but there were plans to transfer control over the shipyard to a state corporation by the end of 2023. In this regard, the appointment is logical,” comments Irina Fatyanova, Associate Professor of the Department of Corporate Governance and Innovation of the Russian University of Economics. Plekhanov.
In January 2023, Alexei Rakhmanov, in an interview published on the website of the state corporation, announced the transfer of 51% of the shares of the Baltic Shipyard to Rosatom, which provides 90% of the shipyard’s load. “Obviously, the appointment of Yury Gordienkov, associated with Rosatom, will accelerate the integration of the shipyard with its main customer,” says Ms. Fatyanova.
Since 2012, the shipyard has been implementing project 22220 for the construction of nuclear-powered ships, the customer of which is FSUE Atomflot (owned by Rosatom). The companies signed three contracts for the construction of five nuclear-powered icebreakers of this series. Three nuclear-powered ships have already been built and commissioned: the Arktika (the lead one, worth 37 billion rubles) and the serial Siberia and Ural ships with a total cost of 84.4 billion rubles. The delivery of two nuclear-powered ships Yakutia and Chukotka with a total cost of 100 billion rubles is scheduled for 2024 and 2025, respectively.
In March 2023, Maxim Kulinko, Deputy Director of the Directorate of the Northern Sea Route of the State Corporation Rosatom, announced that contracts had been signed for the construction of the fifth (keel-laying in May 2021) and sixth icebreakers (keel-laying in October 2025). Both budgetary (58.9 billion rubles) and own funds of the state corporation will be used. In addition, it is planned to sign contracts for the construction of a nuclear tanker and four upgraded floating power units for the Baimsky GOK.
According to SPARK-Interfax, the company has been increasing its loss since 2018: at the end of 2018 it amounted to 1 billion rubles, at the end of 2019 – 6.4 billion, at the end of 2020 – 7.9 billion. 2021–2022 not disclosed.
“If the owner – USC – has decided to change the head of the enterprise, it means that he believes that the position of the enterprise is stable and the replacement of the head will not lead to negative consequences. Personnel reshuffles can indeed be connected with the fact that the controlling stake in the enterprise is planned to be transferred to Rosatom. The candidacy of the new leader could be agreed upon by Rosatom, and his replacement after the transfer of the package is not expected. Actually, the change of the general director just may mean the beginning of the process of transferring a block of shares of the enterprise. The new leader has significant experience in mechanical engineering, and in leadership positions – undoubtedly, this experience will help him in managing the enterprise, in establishing relationships with the future owner of the controlling stake. The new manager can receive support from both federal and regional authorities, as they are interested in the stable operation of the enterprise and the successful implementation of its tasks,” believes Dmitry Baranov, leading expert of Finam Management.