 CHRONICLE
OF THE SHIPYARD
The
beginnings of today’s Stocznia WISŁA reach back into the eighties of
the 19th century. In
that time because of the continuous need to crush ice-jams on lower Wisła
River, the Prussian Authorities have decided to establish a permanent base
for ice-breakers, and also – as the technical part of the base – a
repair shipyard.
On
31st March 1895 the 7 kilometer long channel was commissioned
becoming the main mouth of the Wisła River into the Baltic Sea, and was
called Wisła Przekop (Ditch).
 Wisła
Przekop was dug near the village of Świbno, 9 kilometers east from Wisła
Śmiała. In
this way Martwa Wisła was already 23 kilometers long, and from Leniwka it
was cut off by a chamber lock in the area of Przegalina village.
In the area where Wisła Śmiała and Leniwka branched, there at
first existed a small island.
After making from the east side a dam cutting off one of the side
branches of the river, a peninsula was formed connected directly with the
area of Górki Zachodnie.
And in this place in the years 1886÷1887 the Prussian Regency, the
body of regional administration of those days, became the owner of the
chosen building site.
In
the year 1888 documentation was being prepared, and a year later the
workshops and unique for those times longitudinal mechanical slipway
enabling servicing of vessels up to 300 tons were already under
construction. In
the beginning of the 20th century the Department of Wisła
River Flood-Control with headquarters in Gdańsk had a fleet of 13
ice-breakers, 31 steam vessels and dredgers and a special vessels allowing
underwater works. The
average employment was, because of changing seasonal requirements, very
varying and averaged from 220 workers in summer to 340 workers in winter. In
the time between theWorld Wars the Shipyard was governed by theHarbour and
Waterways Council in Free City of Gdańsk, administration under the
supervision of the League of the Nations .
It was the only
enterprise of typical shipyard activity supervised by this International
body. It carried out more
serious repairs of both the Council’s vessels, as well as harbour on/off-loading
equipment. The employment was
about 200 full-time and about 40 seasonal workers.
The manager of Machine Building Office (the official name of the
shipyard in those days) was W. Schockalt from Germany, whereas his deputy
was a renowned expert, polish graduate of the Technical University of
Gdansk, eng. Henryk Rosochowicz who worked on this post since 1926.
The
end of World War II brought an end to the existence of both the Free City
of Gdansk as well as it’s subsidiary organ, the Harbour and Waterways
Council.
The
Shipyard in Górki Zachodnie as Shipyard No. 11 becomes now part of the
Union of Polish Shipyards with headquarters in Gdańsk, founded on 14th
June 1945.
The
Shipyard was totally ruined.
The workshops were burned out, the machines and
administration building were destroyed by explosions and partly burned out.
In the Shipyard’s basins could be seen sunk barges, dredgers and
ships.
On the premises of the shipyard there were numerous craters made by
bombs and shells and between the still smoldering remains of buildings lay
the dead corpses of people and horses.
 The
first team whose aim was to set order and begin the operation of the
Shipyard arrived on it’s premises on 9th May 1945. As
a result of a really heroic effort – the cleaning operation was
performed with an ever-present awareness of the fact that the Shipyard and
it’s surroundings were heavily mined – the enterprise could begin
operation after a few months. From
the bottom of the basin a coal-carrying vessel of the name “Welle” was
salvaged – a small steam vessel, supplying ice-breakers with coal.
After
repair works and changing the name to “Fala” and later to “Ryś”,
the vessel became famous for the successful rescue
operation on Christmas Eve of 1945, saving the passengers and crew
of a ferry crossing the Wisła River in the vicinity of Świbno.
Since
January 1946 m.sc. Eng. I. Sienicki, a graduate of the Technical
University of Warsaw, becomes the Manager of the Shipyard, taking the post
from Jan Lesiński.
The
biggest problem in those times was the staff, or more precisely the lack
of it. Among
the 160 people team, working for symbolic wages, there were no experts –
the whole engineering and technical staff was one engineer and three
mechanical technicians.
In
the face of lack of electric power – there was no electric power also in
neighboring Górki – a small diesel-driven generator, found among the
wrecks of tanks and cars, was installed in the Shipyard, sufficient for
supplying one lathe during daytime and few houses in the evenings.
The
Shipyard in Górki Zachodnie was supplied with electric power from Gdańsk
not sooner than June 1946.
By that time, the shipyard’s basins were cleaned by salvaging 4
dredgers, a few motor boats and a tugboat.
Successful was the operation of salvaging the biggest (with a
weight of abt. 600 tonnes) of the vessels sunk by the Germans
– a bay passenger vessel “Preussen”, which was laying in the
channel leading to Gdańsk.
Repaired was also the administration building, with temporary
metal-working workshops, kitchen and dining-room placed on the ground
floor, and offices on the first floor.
From
the middle of 1946 repairs of “outside” vessels were begun, that is
vessels not connected with the functioning of the pre-war Shipyard.Those
specific “outside services” were begun by performing repair works on
passenger steamboat “Elbląg” and two side-wheelers “Mamut (“Buffel”)
and “Andrzej Zamojski” (“Vistula”). The
salvaged vessel “Preussen” after peforming repair works in Northern
Shipyard was named “Diana” and for many years was sailing on the
Szczecin Bay.
As
far as the organization is concerned important administrative changes took
place in that time, by separating from the Union of Polish Shipyards –
small enterprises performing mainly auxiliary and repair functions.
In such way the Shipyard in Górki Zachodnie was transferred to the
Department of Waterways.
On 1st January 1950 the Shipyard became a state
enterprise as Stocznia Główna Rejonu Gdańsk (Main Shipyard of the Gdańsk
Area).
Stocznia Rzeczna (River Shipyard) in Górki Zachodnie had under
it’s authority the auxiliary shipyards in Tczew, Elbląg, Przegalina and
Sianki (Stogi), operating on the principle of limited economic clearance.
The first Head Manager of the Shipyard was eng. Bernard Krynicz.
 In
1953 the Union of Sea Shiprepair Yards was formed, under the authority of
the Ministry of Shipping.
In the beginning the Union was formed by three big shiprepair yards,
and also PZM Puck and MORS.
In 1967 the Gdańska Stocznia Rzeczna in Górki Zachodnie was
incorporated in the Union of Sea Shiprepair Yards, and as of 1st
January 1967 was known as Stocznia
WISŁA.
 One
of the very important problems of the shipyard is the large distance from
the center of Gdańsk. Up
till 1951 the transport of people and materials was done in summer by
water on board a motorboat and in winter by road in a worn out Bedford
truck.
A
significant improvement was the erection in the second half of the fifties
a company living compound together with a worker’s hotel on Łowicka
street.
Serious
problems were still caused by the shortage of suitable technical
facilities – even in 1953 the first side launching was done with the
help of undercarriages and slides placed under the hull directly before
the launching, whereas assembly of the hull was done on a meadow, where
the sections were transported by barge and a caterpillar crane.
More
and more often the task of the shipyard’s crew was not only repairs, but
also newbuilding of vessels.
The first dump barge was constructed in 1954, the second one year
later.
An unprecedented event in the history of the shipyard was the
undertaking of the construction of a large series of vessels.
The vessel were wooden construction minesweepers type D-151 for the
Soviet Union, according to documentation supplied by the shipowners.
In all, until 1960 54 of such vessels were built, including 7 for
our country.
 Experience
gathered in production conducted on industrial scale had to be profitable.
The number of vessels built in Stocznia “Wisła” was year after
year higher, beginning from one vessel in 1954, through 16 in 1959, up to
31 in 1965 and 109 vessels in 1975.
At
the same time the technical complexity of the production was also growing
higher and higher. The
wooden hulls were very soon substituted by steel ones.
The production of vessels made from plastic composites was also
begun (hydrographic vessels, motorboats and yachts), as well as from light
alloys (life boats, hydrofoil boats).
 Stocznia
“Wisła”
became the major supplier of floating craft for the Polish “White Fleet”
and a significant supplier for such fleet of the Soviet Union.
In
the years 1961 ÷ 1970 55 passenger vessels were built, 21 motor boats, 8
pontoons, 7 training vessels, and also 32 steel and wooden fishing vessels
(boats, cutters and rafts) for Libya and 58 special purpose vessels mainly
for the Soviet Union.
After
the year 1970 a visible production increase can be noted, mainly through
the assembly of complex and large vessels with a high degree of
specialization.
In
this time there were built, among others, tankers for carrying fuels and
fresh water, military training ships, rescue vessels, inspection and
surveillance motor boats, multipurpose fishing vessels. The
new vessels very characterized by an enlarged operational range and highly
specialized equipment.
The export list of countries was enlarged by such exotic countries
as Birma, Iraq, Mauritania, Libya, Pakistan, Nigeria, Iran, which
accompany European end-users:
Czechoslovakia, German Federal Republic, Soviet Union, Holland,
Sweden and Island.From among the about 1.420 vessels which came to life at
Stocznia “Wisła”, it is today hard to choose the most interesting
vessels for technical or functional reasons. Beside
the production of new vessels the Shipyard is also conducting shiprepairs
and modernizations of existing vessels.
 Stocznia
WISŁA Sp. z o.o. (Limited Liability Company) was formed as an Employees Company on the
basis of an agreement made in the form of an authenticated deed dated May
1992, and formally begun operation on 1st February 1994 on the
basis of an amended Company agreement dated January 1994.
In
the beginning of 1994 in the State Enterprise Stocznia “WISŁA” there
was conducted a privatization of the Shipyard. The
operation of selling the enterprise was done on the principle of a public
tender conducted by the Court Enforcement Officer of the District Court in
Gdansk.The
conversion of the shipyard was based on disposing by the State Treasury of
the right of perpetual usefruct of shipyard’s grounds with ownership of
buildings and structures laying on those grounds. Grounds,
buildings, machines, installations and structures directly connected with
production were acquired by Stocznia WISŁA Sp. z o.o., and their total
area amounts to 8,7 hectares.
 From
the moment of privatization of Stocznia WISŁA there is noted a
significant jump in technical and technological capabilities, and also in
production quality through computerizing of the whole process of
production preparation and technical modernization of production
facilities. The process of elaborating the technology of executing various
ship constructions, technical production aids and strength calculation is
conducted using specialized computer software. Steel plate marking-off,
elaboration of numeric cutting cards and tabularization of stiffeners for
preliminary prefabrication is completely computerized (the classical
marking-off is no longer used).
 The steel plate cutting is performed on
two automatic computer-controlled cutting machines according to cutting
documentation from a CD with full control of the cutting process by the
operator through a CR monitor. The whole correspondence (letters,
technical descriptions, technical documentation, technological
documentation, drawing normalized according to European and worldwide
norms, numeric data for plate cutting, numeric data for templates and
steel plates and profiles forming, unification tables for prefabrication
of stiffeners, technological sketches and charts for 2nd degree
prefabrication etc. is being sent through electronic mail “e-mail”,
directly to computers installed in departments:
DN, NT and NP.
 The
internal vertical and horizontal transport was thoroughly modernized, what
allowed to built construction practically without limits as far as size
and weight is concerned.
The
measurements and approvals are done with the employment of latest
generation electronic equipment. The
managing of the production process of the Company is characterized by a
detailed production costs control and their optimalization. This
allows a direct interference of the Management in current production
processes and undertaking direct countermeasures in those areas of the
Shipyard’s production processes which have a decisive impact on the cost
of our production, at the same time ensuring
operational safety of the Shipyard.
In Stocznia WISŁA
there are practically no limits as to the vessel type, or the degree of
technical complexity. The
existing limitations result from the capacity of the slipway and depth of
water at outfitting quays what causes, that the weight at launching cannot
exceed 300 tones, at overall length of vessel of 40 meters and functional
draught 2,35 meters.
Independently
from the production of complete floating objects Stocznia WISŁA has built
and is building partly equipped hulls and deckhouses for foreign and
domestic clients.
At
the moment, Stocznia WISŁA main activity is the construction of partly
equipped ship’s hulls, 3D sections, blocks and deckhouses for foreign
and domestic clients. 92% of our production from the past over 12 years of
operation we have been making on order of foreign clients, mainly from
European Union countries.
 We
are also satisfied with our production cooperation with our fellow
shipyard workers from Gdańska Stocznia Remontowa, Stocznia Gdynia,
Stocznia Północna and Stocznia Szczecińska.
For
example, in 1997 Stocznia WISŁA had a significant contribution in the
production by Gdańska Stocznia Remontowa of a floating dock with capacity
3.000 tonnes for NIGERDOCK Shipyard in Lagos, Nigeria.
In
2000/2001 we have cooperated with Stocznia Gdynia in the construction of
deckhouses and shipsections. In
2003, in cooperation with Gdańska Stocznia Remontowa / Stocznia Północna
we have built shipsections for one of the French Shipyards.
At
present, Stocznia WISŁA possesses production means of significant
capabilities and high class specialists what allows production complying
with world shipbuilding standards at competitive prices and delivery times..
The
current full-time employment in the Company is about 190 employees,
whereas full employment of our Company, including outside companies
cooperating with us on basis of long-terms contracts and workers on
self-employment working for Stocznia WISŁA the whole year round, is about
420 employees.
 The
ratio of office staff to production workers which is on the level of below
10 % (38 office staff to 420 total number of employees) testifies to the
fact of modern managing of the Company, basing on the best experiences of
worldwide shipbuilding industry, and to the high effectiveness of the
staff.
In
2007 we have commissioned the largest investment project undertaken by Stocznia
WISŁA - the construction of the new Shipsection Construction
Department. The prefabrication-assembly area of a total of above
3.600 square meters serviced by a gantry crane of 45 tons capacity and 30
meters lifting height, together with all the necessary infrastructure, will considerably increase the production
capacity of  Stocznia
WISŁA. Also a new quay of 50 meters length was
constructed in the area of the Shipsection Construction Department,
connecting with the existing Bałtyckie Quay, and dredging works were performed in the basin of Stocznia WISŁA in the area of the new quay, allowing safe mooring of even the largest pontoons which can enter Stocznia WISŁA.
Together with the Shipsection Building Department a seagoing pontoon SW
6118 was commissioned - completely designed by the newly formed Design
Office of Stocznia WISŁA, and built by Stocznia WISŁA.
The pontoon SW 6118, owned by Stocznia WISŁA, is a significant increase of the delivery capabilities of constructions built by Stocznia WISŁA.
 In the year 2009 and beginning of 2010 Stocznia WISŁA delivered
to the Shipowner, The Ministry of Fisheries of the Republic of Angola,
4 complete multipurpose fishing vessels type TR 33,8, with overall
length of 33,8 meters, breadth of 8,2 meters and fishholods of 150 qub.
meters capacity, cooled down to -25 deg. Celsius.
This project, executed in whole by Stocznia WISŁA,
from the design through procurement of materials, building of the hull,
prefabrication and assembly of pipelines, installation of machinery and
equipment, outfitting up to start-up, sea and take-over trials,
constitutes a clear confirmation of the possibilities and potential of Stocznia WISŁA.
During the execution of the project of construction and delivery of
four fishing vessels for the Ministry of Fisheries of the Republic of
Angola, the Shipsection Production Department was renamed to
Shipsection and Hull Production Department.
With the beginning of the year 2010 Stocznia WISŁAis
planning to expand it's offer for performing shiprepairs and
conversions (steel and piping works, painting, overhaul and exchange of
machineries, class renewal) of vessels with lenght up to 65 meters and
breadth up to 20 meters.
April 2010
  
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