National Union of the Shipbuilding, Repair and Offshore Industry (Sinaval)
Employers' union that publishes shipyard employment data.
On the timeline
Evidence
The same chapter records, citing Sinaval, that direct jobs in the shipbuilding industry, above 82,000 in 2014, fell to about 50,000 in the first quarter of 2016, and attributes a devastating effect on the sector to the interruption of the Sete Brasil contracts.
Source: Lessons of Operation Car Wash: A legal, institutional, and economic analysis (cap. 2, Costa, Lima e Goldschmidt) — Brazil Institute, Wilson Center (eds. Fabio Ramazzini Bechara and Paulo C. Goldschmidt; hosted by FGV Direito SP), Nov. 2020 · Ch. 2, p. 43 · open original ↗
According to Sinaval, the shipbuilding industry had 82,472 workers in December 2014, 57,048 in 2015 (month not given) and 43,745 in the first half of 2016, a drop of 7,331 positions in the half-year.
Source: Queda no barril do petróleo, corrupção e Lava Jato desmantelam indústria naval — Brasil de Fato, Jan. 5, 2017 · News report of January 5, 2017, employment section · open original ↗
Estadão Conteúdo (August 10, 2016) recorded, with Sinaval data, a drop from more than 82 thousand employees at the end of 2014 to 43 thousand in June 2016 (a loss of about 38 thousand), and attributed the crisis not only to the scandal detailed by Lava Jato but also to the international situation: fall in oil prices, lower world demand and global idle capacity (shipyard capacity utilization fell from 85% in 2008 to 56% in 2014, OECD data); it also recorded Transpetro's cancellation of an order for 17 ships and signs that Petrobras could cancel the last two hulls in Rio Grande.
Source: Em dois anos, indústria naval corta 38 mil empregados — Gazeta do Povo (Estadão Conteúdo), Aug. 10, 2016 · News report of August 10, 2016 · open original ↗
In the Brasil de Fato report, former Petrobras president Sergio Gabrielli said the reduction in the state company's investments hit the offshore industry and Lava Jato affected the supplier chain and created credit problems for the shipyards; professor Armando Boito (Unicamp) stated that the operation made leniency agreements harder by punishing directors in a way that harmed the companies; the article records that the barrel fell from US$80–100 until mid-2012 to US$25–32 in 2016.
Source: Queda no barril do petróleo, corrupção e Lava Jato desmantelam indústria naval — Brasil de Fato, Jan. 5, 2017 · News report of January 5, 2017, causes sections · open original ↗
In April 2021, Sinaval's executive vice president, Sérgio Bacci, said employment in the sector had fallen 81.8% since 2014, to fewer than 15 thousand jobs in the shipyards; in 2014 there were about 82 thousand direct jobs and 200 thousand indirect; he attributed the fall to Petrobras's change in policy beginning in 2014.
Source: Indústria naval perdeu 81% dos postos de trabalho — Monitor Mercantil, Apr. 26, 2021 · News report of April 26, 2021 · open original ↗
In August 2026, Sinaval president Ariovaldo Rocha reported that shipbuilding and repair reached 86 thousand workers in July 2026, about 3,600 above the 2014 level of 82,400.
Source: Sinaval: Indústria naval supera patamar recorde de empregos de 2014 — Diário do Grande ABC, Aug. 18, 2026 · News report of August 18, 2026 · open original ↗