The billion-euro rescue of the financially troubled Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Lower Saxony, has now been contractually agreed. All necessary contracts have been signed, said Lower Saxony’s Economics Minister Olaf Lies after a staff meeting at the shipyard. “The future of the shipyard has thus been stabilized and we now firmly believe that we will also see a positive further development of the sites,” said the SPD politician.
However, it is also clear that the shipyard is now facing a “tough restructuring phase” – among other things, around 340 jobs are to be lost.
Last week, both the budget committee of the Bundestag and the budget committee of the Lower Saxony state parliament gave the green light for state aid. According to Lies, contractual details were still being negotiated on Friday. A “large number of banks” were involved in rescuing the shipyard, he said.
State takes over 80 percent of Meyer Werft
The more than 200-year-old company, which is best known for its cruise ships, has run into financial difficulties. The federal and state governments have therefore agreed to temporarily take over the company. The rescue package provides for the federal and state governments to take over around 80 percent of the shipyard’s shares for 400 million euros. They are also providing guarantees of around one billion euros each to secure loans from banks.
In total, around 7,000 people work for the Meyer Group. In addition to the Papenburg location, it has shipyards in Rostock and Turku, Finland.
The shipyard’s order books are well filled. However, some contracts for cruise ships that were signed before the corona pandemic do not provide for any adjustment to the sharp rise in energy and raw material prices. In addition, in shipbuilding, 80 percent of the construction price is usually only paid upon delivery of the ship. Meyer Werft, for example, has to raise almost 2.8 billion euros to finance new ship construction by the end of 2027. Time was of the essence for the rescue: an agreement had to be reached by September 15, otherwise the shipyard would have run out of money.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240916-930-233710/1
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