Finland’s government pledged to help support the country’s shipbuilders through the worst ever global slump in the industry’s orders.

The government wants to help STX Europe AS, which operates three shipyards in Finland, to attract 500 million euros ($697 million) in orders, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said in an e-mailed statement in Helsinki. The government has yet to agree on the specific measures, which may include innovation support, export financing and support for Finnish shipping companies to order new environmentally-friendly vessels.

The government is stepping in to help the industry as a global slump in orders threatens to decimate the Nordic nation’s shipyards, which employ 20,000 workers. Orders for new vessels plunged an annual 90 percent last year worldwide, Finland’s Economy Minister Mauri Pekkarinen said on Jan. 14.

STX Europe, a unit of South-Korean STX Corp., is building the world’s largest passenger cruise ship, the Allure of the Seas, at its Turku shipyard in Finland. When the ship sets sail for its Florida home port in November, 14,000 builders will be left without work. The company has received one order for a polar supply vessel since summer 2008.

Any state efforts to build up ship orders will be agreed when the government decides on this year’s first supplementary budget, according to the statement.