shipbuilding
Aid payments: MV Werften appeal to federal politics
Genting’s managers speak to the press at the MV Werft in Wismar. Photo: Frank Hormann / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The MV Werften are economically stricken. Aid might come from the federal government – but this imposes conditions on the owner from Hong Kong. There is a lack of understanding on site.
In the stalled negotiations regarding the future of the MV Werften, the owner of the shipyard association sees the federal government on the train.
The President of Genting Hong Kong, Colin Au, and the Managing Director of the shipyards group, Carsten Haake, expressed a lack of understanding regarding the German government’s approach on Sunday. Au appealed to the responsible politicians to reconsider their negative attitude: “It’s regarding thousands of families.” In addition, an entire industry including its suppliers at home and abroad is threatened. “To drop the shipyards now would be the biggest economic mistake that the federal government might make,” emphasized Au.
The federal government has been wrestling with the Asian owner for days to rescue the battered MV shipyards with more than 1900 jobs. The federal government is ready to hear from a rescue package and further aid, but has so far not wanted to abandon its demand for the owner to make a contribution. The owners recently said that there was no clear commitment to their shipyard.
The federal government had already submitted a proposal to rescue the ailing shipyards in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bremerhaven before Christmas. Specifically, the giant cruise ship “Global Class 1” should be completed with around 600 million euros from the state economic stabilization fund. In return, according to dpa information, the Ministry of Economic Affairs asked the owner to make a contribution of 60 million euros. The ship was to be used as security for the federal financial injection. The state government is also ready for a financial injection.
The new maritime coordinator of the federal government, Claudia Müller (Greens), emphasized on Sunday evening that the federal government was ready to provide comprehensive help. The clear offer to support the prefabricated construction of Global Class 1 with 600 million euros is still available. “We appeal to the owners to give in and to make an appropriate contribution of their own, so that we can do everything together to save the more than 1900 jobs.”
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Economics Minister Reinhard Meyer (SPD) appealed to the shipyards group to continue negotiations. “The federal government’s offer to negotiate is on the table,” he said on Sunday. It is in the interests of the state government, the employees and the shipbuilding industry to maintain the shipyard locations. “The black peter game, who said what and when, doesn’t get us any further,” said Meyer.
Genting acquired the shipyards in Rostock, Wismar and Stralsund in 2016 in response to the then booming cruise market in order to have ships built there for the Group’s own shipping companies. But with the collapse of the industry as a result of the Corona crisis, the Asian parent company ran into difficulties that continue to this day.
Haake accused the federal government of causing the current problem by blocking the disbursement of funds for the construction of the around 1.5 billion euro ship Global Dream when an intermediate construction stage, the so-called milestone F, was reached last December. According to the federal government, the risks for the prefabricated construction of the ship are too great due to the development in the cruise industry.
Au emphasized, “In Asia the cruise industry has started once more and is working profitably.” Genting took over the shipyards with the sole aim of building cruise ships. It should also not be forgotten that since then Genting has invested more than two billion euros in the MV locations out of pocket, and the number of employees has doubled. “Without Covid-19, we would never have asked the government for a euro.” From Au’s perspective, it is more than likely that the corona pandemic will subside in spring. The transition to normality and with it the return of the cruise industry are imminent.
Haake assumes that the federal government does not want to move at the moment and that Genting cannot move. Genting might no longer make any further compromises. “We have worked our way through the federal conditions,” he said. Four proposals by Genting had been rejected by the federal government.
The head of the general works council, Ines Scheel, said that following the talks last week she had almost given up hope of MV Werften’s survival. You have repeatedly asked all those involved at the federal and state levels to sit down once more at the table. According to her account, none of the responsible federal and state politicians has been seen at the shipyards in the past few weeks. “We wrote letters to the Federal Chancellor, the federal ministries and the state government and got no answers,” she criticized.
