The Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has signed an agreement with Eurofactor Italia and Banca Popolare FriulAdria, both companies of Crédit Agricole Group, to facilitate and reduce the cost of access to credit for suppliers to the shipbuilding company.

Thus, the many small and medium-sized companies that are part of Fincantieri’s system will have access to credit at competitive costs.

Given the context of the current economic crisis with increasingly selective credit access, the agreement will provide the supply chain with a highly important tool to support and maintain production activities, Fincantieri said in a prepared statement. Supplier companies will be able to avail themselves of banking and factoring services tailored to their specific needs.

The agreement allows Fincantieri to strengthen its relationship with more than 5,000 suppliers of all sizes, which receive approximately 2 billion euros a year for materials and labor.

Fincantieri said that despite the current economic conditions, the shipbuilder has been rewarded with new orders during what is considered a critical time period and now aims both to “enhance quality and to optimize the costs side as requested by a market that is increasingly focused on cost containment and quality.”