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German shipbuilding in an emergency - state should help

2020-05-07T13:06:20.585Z


Until the Corona crisis, shipbuilding in Germany and Europe was an island of the souls in a global crisis industry. But now there is a deep hole. Unions are worried about jobs in the industry.


Until the Corona crisis, shipbuilding in Germany and Europe was an island of the souls in a global crisis industry. But now there is a deep hole. Unions are worried about jobs in the industry.

Hamburg (dpa) - Shipbuilding in Germany is facing a severe crisis that it cannot survive without government aid. This is the view of the IG Metall coast and the Association for Shipbuilding and Marine Technology (VSM). 

IG Metall warned of a clearcut at German shipyards and called for an economic stimulus program for shipbuilding. "Modern, low-emission technologies must be in the foreground," said district manager Daniel Friedrich at a video conference. It is about thousands of industrial jobs in an industry with a good long-term perspective.

In total, shipbuilding in Germany employs more than 100,000 people, most of them in the supply industry. The VSM association anticipates far higher numbers in the supplier industry and even sees 200,000 jobs in the industry. A study commissioned by the IG Metall coast showed an increase in employment of more than eleven percent last year.

The good development with increasing orders and sales was mainly due to a strategy change in German shipbuilding after the financial crisis. The shipyards finally left the bulk business with large container ships, tankers and bulkers to the shipyards in Korea, China and Japan and concentrated on high-tech shipbuilding.

Cruise ships and luxury yachts, ferries and elaborate special designs come from Germany. The market for passenger ships has recently boomed, but here, too, Asian competition is increasingly competing with European providers - with price pressure and government protection. Now the market collapsed within a few weeks. "By 2027, almost 200 cruise ships were to be built, many of them in Europe," said Friedrich. "The shipowners don't need them now." The cruise industry is completely idle in the Corona crisis and it is currently not foreseeable when cruises will be offered again.

In Germany, this means short-time work at the shipyards in East Germany in Stralsund, Wismar and Schwerin as well as at the Meyer Werft in Papenburg, which are currently at a standstill. Likewise the Flensburg shipbuilding company that builds ferries. That is 7,000 to 8,000 employees and thus more than a third of the permanent workforce at the shipyards. Expiring contracts will not be extended. Shipyards that build yachts or naval ships, or are active in the repair sector, are not doing so badly.

"We now have to stretch the orders," said Friedrich. Shipowners would not have enough funds to pay for new ships. The VSM shipbuilding association sees more than just the shipyards for cruise ships in need. "It's about the entire industry," said CEO Reinhard Lüken. There will be a hole in orders worldwide, including at the shipyards for cargo ships. But these are the customers of the German supplier industry. The market would surely come back in two, three or four years and then demand even more complex ships, which could benefit the German shipyards. "But only if we still exist," said Lüken. "We have to get over this hole."  

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-05-07

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