The rescue of the struggling Meyer Werft with the help of the state is expected to be formally decided in the coming days. The federal government asked the Bundestag’s budget committee for approval of the planned entry into the shipyard, according to sources in the Federal Ministry of Economics on Friday. The company is expected to receive the aid it needs by September 15 at the latest. Otherwise, the shipyard faces bankruptcy.
The Meyer Werft Group, with its Papenburg site in Lower Saxony and the Neptun Werft in Rostock-Warnemünde, is in a serious crisis, partly because energy and raw material prices have risen sharply in recent years, but the shipyard will only receive a large part of the purchase price upon delivery. According to its own statements, it will need around three billion euros in the coming years.
The federal government and the state of Lower Saxony now want to buy around 80.7 percent of Meyer Werft for 400 million euros; this will be accompanied by guarantees for loans totaling around two billion euros, according to the ministry. The banks will take on loans totaling around 600 million at their own risk.
Lower Saxony’s state government decided to start at the beginning of the week. Here, too, the budget committee in the state parliament must still approve it.
According to sources in the ministry, the shipyard can restore the profitability of its business activities “after consistent and successful implementation” of the restructuring, according to an “in-depth independent report”. The continued high demand for cruise ships from a small number of providers also speaks for the shipyard’s ability to be restructured.
In the event of Meyer Werft becoming insolvent, however, “only a partial liquidation would most likely be possible.” This means that the shipyard’s current value creation would either be sold or shut down in the event of insolvency. “This would mean the loss of the cruise ship construction expertise available in Germany. Papenburg would also mean the loss of one of the largest and most modern shipyard locations in the world with systemic importance for the shipbuilding cluster in Germany.”
ilo/hcy
