The federal government is examining a possible rescue of the Meyer Werft, which is known for large cruise ships. When asked on Thursday, the Federal Ministry of Economics confirmed that it was in discussions with the state of Lower Saxony and Meyer Werft about questions of possible state support. “We are first clarifying the matter and cannot comment on the details,” said a spokeswoman. In Lower Saxony, ministers and members of the state parliament from the SPD, CDU and Greens had previously held a crisis meeting with the IG Metall union, the works council and the management of the financially struggling company Meyer Werft promised to try to rescue the ship. “We are now fighting together for a new start for the shipyard,” said Economics Minister Olaf Lies (SPD). However, Lower Saxony will not be able to solve the problems on its own, emphasized Finance Minister Gerald Heere (Greens). He appealed to the federal government and the company: “For Meyer Werft to have real future prospects, we urgently need the support of the federal government and a sustainable group structure.” Cash shortage despite full order books Lower Saxony’s CDU parliamentary group deputy Ulf Thiele said that without temporary government support it would not be possible be to give the shipyard a lasting and secure future. “The future of German shipbuilding depends on this. The economic development of the entire Ems region depends on this. And the existence of thousands of families depends on it,” said Thiele. The Meyer Werft is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of cruise ships and therefore an important economic factor for Lower Saxony. The company’s order books are full – however, due to the after-effects of the corona pandemic and price increases as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the shipyard has to close a large financing gap of 2.7 billion euros by 2027. More on the topic The contracts for the cruise ships were partly in place were concluded before the pandemic and do not provide for any adjustment to the drastically increased energy and raw material prices. The shipyard only receives around 80 percent of the purchase price upon delivery and has to finance the construction with loans. A total of around 7,000 people work for the Meyer Group, around 3,000 of which are in Papenburg. There are further shipyards in Rostock and Turku, Finland.
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