Independent Spanish shipbuilder Hijos de J Barreras has again showed its mettle by delivering two specialized vessels within the space of just a few days, and by landing a three-ship contract to take its orderbook into mid 2003. Three years after being spun-off from the former Astilleros Espanoles (AESA), the Vigo yard demonstrates how a well-managed and motivated undertaking can successfully make the transition into private control. It provides a template for broader Spanish endeavors to slim the state's holding in a number of industrial sectors, not only shipbuilding. Barreras always displayed something of an independent style within AESA (now IZAR), of which it was part for nearly a quarter-century.