The federal government and Lower Saxony are working on a billion dollar rescue plan for the Meyer Werft. Thousands of jobs are at risk. Time is running out.
Papenburg – The federal government and the state of Lower Saxony have been working for months on a possible rescue of Meyer Werft, famous for its cruise ships. Today, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stephan Weil (both SPD) are expected at a working meeting of the sick company in Papenburg, Emsland. A rescue plan is in sight, but no decision has been made yet. Overview.
Why is Meyer Werft in crisis?
The company needs a lot of money urgently – the agreements must be reached before 15 September. In total, the shipyard must raise almost 2.8 billion euros by the end of 2027 to finance new ships. This is not due to a lack of orders, they say. Just a few days ago, Meyer Werft registered what they said was the largest order in the company’s history with four cruise ships for the Disney Cruise Line.
However, some contracts for cruise ships were terminated before the corona pandemic and do not provide for any change in the prices of energy and raw materials which have increased significantly. Furthermore, in the industry, 80 percent of the construction price is usually only paid when the vessel is delivered – so the shipyard has to finance the construction with inter-bank loans. amal.
What is being talked about as salvation?
It is inconceivable that federal and state governments could invest in the shipyard for a limited time to increase equity of around 400 million euros. The shipyard also needs guarantees to secure new loans for shipbuilding and thus close the billion-dollar financing gap.
Government circles in Berlin said there was no final decision yet, but there was a will to save the shipyard. Accordingly, the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony could provide approximately 900 million euros and take over 80 to 90 percent of the shipyard temporarily. However, such a solution would have to be approved by, among others, the Budget Committee of the Bundestag and the EU Commission, it was said.
At the beginning of July, the management of Meyer Werft had already agreed on a restructuring concept with the works council and the IG Metall union. 340 of more than 3,000 jobs in Papenburg are to be cut. In addition, a board of directors and a group works council should be created and the company’s headquarters should be moved back from Luxembourg to Germany – that was a political demand.
Why are politicians fighting for a future for the shipyard?
Prime Minister Weil confirmed this summer that if there are good reasons to believe that the company has a future, Lower Saxony will work hard to make this future possible. “We are doing this because we want to save jobs,” said the head of government. In addition to the main workforce and beyond Lower Saxony, the shipyard was responsible for “several thousand jobs”. Around 7,000 people work for the Meyer Group – in addition to the location in Papenburg, it has shipyards in Rostock and Turku, Finland.
Meyer Werft is one of the world’s leading cruise ship manufacturers and thus an important economic factor for Lower Saxony. In addition to jobs, the state government argued that it was also about keeping knowledge of civil shipbuilding in Germany. dp
2024-08-22 02:02:56
#Meyer #Werft #shipyard #salvage
