MV Werften and Lloyd-Werft insolvent: 379 million risk of default
Created: 01/10/2022Updated: 01/10/2022, 9:21 PM
View of the gantry crane of the shipyard in Warnemünde with the label "MV Werften".
© Bernd Wüstneck / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa
Shock in the new year: MV Werften with 1900 jobs and Bremerhaven-based Lloyd Werft with 300 jobs have filed for bankruptcy.
The Hong Kong parent company is doing badly because of the crisis in the cruise industry.
Politicians are now hoping for a realignment of the locations.
Wismar - shock on the coast: MV Werften in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bremerhaven's Lloyd-Werft filed for bankruptcy on Monday. Both companies belong to the Hong Kong conglomerate Genting, which is in trouble. Genting's cruise line has got into trouble because of the pandemic. Trading in shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has been suspended since Friday.
At MV Werften there are around 1900 employees and the Bremerhaven shipbuilding company around 300 jobs.
According to the state government, the risk of default in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at MV Werften amounts to up to 379 million euros - 301 million euros in loan guarantees and a committed loan of 78 million euros for the parent company, the disbursement of which the state is trying to prevent.
The opposition AfD in the state parliament called for an investigative committee.
The loan was canceled on Monday after the MV Werften filing for bankruptcy, it said from government circles.
The country no longer sees any reason to support the parent company.
On Tuesday, the Schwerin district court will negotiate the loan, which Genting is demanding immediate disbursement.
The Hamburg attorney Per Hendrik Heerma was appointed temporary insolvency administrator for the Lloyd shipyard. He had also taken on this function at Elsflether Werft, which failed in 2019 with the renovation of the naval training ship "Gorch Fock". No insolvency administrator has been named for MV Werften, said a spokesman for the Schwerin District Court.
MV Werften did not succeed in securing the financing of the 75 percent finished and around 1.5 billion euro expensive new build of the cruise ship "Global Dream" for up to 10,000 passengers. Negotiations between Genting and the shipyard with the federal and state governments failed. State and federal politicians blame Genting: The company was not prepared to contribute 60 million euros to the rescue package. The federal government was ready to give 600 million euros from the economic stabilization fund.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck told the German Press Agency: “As the federal government, we have pulled out all the stops to avoid the bankruptcy of MV Werften and thus save jobs.
However, the owners have turned down our offer of help;
the filing of bankruptcy is the result. "
IG Metall spoke of a "black day" for shipbuilding in Germany.
District manager Daniel Friedrich emphasized: “We are appalled that it had to come to this.” The fact that the negotiations did not lead to a solution is sobering.
"The trust on all sides seems to have finally been used up."
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig said she was hoping for an insolvency administrator to be appointed quickly.
First of all, the cruise ship should be completed in Wismar.
This safe work.
In the second step, perspectives for the Wismar, Rostock and Stralsund locations would have to be developed.
Schwesig announced a special session of the state parliament on the MV Werften.
IG Metall also called for the prefabricated “Global Dream” to be built in bankruptcy.
It is also important to approach potential investors quickly and realign the shipyards.
In Bremerhaven and Stralsund there were already interested parties before the bankruptcy.
For the association for shipbuilding and marine technology it is now crucial to enable the preservation of the four locations on the Baltic Sea and in Bremerhaven as part of a change of ownership.
The German shipbuilding industry could not afford a further loss of substance of this magnitude, said the association.
The maritime industry is facing a radical change.
The entire fleet must be converted to climate neutrality.
Furthermore, the offshore industry and the infrastructure for sustainable fuels would have to be greatly expanded.
"This will require extensive production capacities in the maritime industry in the coming years," explained the association.
Against this background, bankruptcy could also prove to be an opportunity.
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The Genting Group took over the shipyards in 2016 in order to have cruise ships built there for their own shipping companies.
After the corona-related collapse of the cruise market in early 2020, Genting got into financial difficulties.
The trend reversal expected for 2021 did not materialize.
dpa