• 2 min de lectura
• 2 min de lectura
The delivery of the Selknam and Manutara landing barges for the Chilean Navy's Escotillón IV Project is much more than the successful culmination of a naval engineering work. It represents a concrete sign of what our country is capable of achieving when the public sector and private industry work in a coordinated manner towards common strategic objectives.
Naval construction is an activity with a significant multiplier effect. Each project mobilizes hundreds of workers, engineers, technicians, suppliers, and specialized service companies for years. Furthermore, it drives technology transfer processes, fosters innovation, and strengthens regional supply chains that generate value far beyond the shipyards.
That is why we value the implementation of the National Continuous Naval Construction Policy, as for the first time, Chile explicitly recognizes this industry as a strategic sector for national development, which represents a historic advance. It allows for projecting a long-term vision for an activity that combines industrial capabilities, innovation, quality job creation, and territorial development.
However, it is fundamental to transform this vision into concrete instruments that allow for accelerating the sector's growth. International experience shows that successful naval industries develop based on technical capabilities, but also thanks to financial mechanisms that facilitate large-scale projects and long execution periods.
It is key to advance in tools that allow closing this gap, among them the project that creates the Agency for Development Financing and Investment (AFIDE), which can play a significant role in strengthening several strategic sectors for the country.
The recent launching of the Navy's LPD Magallanes multipurpose vessel is also an encouraging sign of what Chile can achieve to consolidate a competitive, innovative naval industry capable of projecting itself internationally.
Today we have a historic opportunity to strengthen our industrial base, generate specialized employment, boost innovation, and project our country as a maritime power in line with its geography, tradition, and capabilities. The challenge now is to stay the course and turn this vision into a permanent reality for the coming decades.
