Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo (ENVC) is a medium-sized shipyard in business since 1944, located in the town of Viana do Castelo, on the Atlantic Coast in the very north of Portugal. Occupying an area of 400,000 square metres and employing 625 people, it is a major Portuguese shipbuilder. In 2013 its assets and operations were sub-licensed to Martifer, which renamed them to West Sea Shipyard.
Up to the present, the yard has delivered more than 220 vessels including barges, tugboats, ferry boats, fishing vessels, general cargo and bulk carriers, container ships, oil and chemical tankers, LPG's, cement carriers and warships.[1]
History
The shipyards were funded on 3 June 1944 as a private limited liability company with a capital of 750,000$00 escudos as a part of a Portuguese government program to modernize the national fishing fleet. They were founded by a group of technicians and workers from the shipyards of the port of Lisbon and two of the first investors were Vasco D'Orey and João Alves Cerqueira, from the cod fishing industry. By 1946, the shipyards were accredited by Lloyd's Register and in 1948 the company delivered its first three ships.[1]