Shipbuilding: “Because of the ownership structure and Mr. Windhorst, a lot has passed this shipyard by.” | EUROtoday

Gradually it turns into a sort of ritual to offer consolation and hope to the FSG shipyard in Flensburg round Christmas. At the tip of 2020, Simone Lange (SPD), the then mayor of Flensburg, was current on the laying of the keel for a brand new ferry. And precisely two years in the past to the day, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) handed over a federal funding discover for the development of three tankers for deep-frozen, liquefied pure fuel (LNG).

Now, someday earlier than Christmas Eve, Habeck is as soon as once more standing in considered one of FSG’s chilly shipyard halls and making an attempt to convey confidence to the workers. The three, because it was known as on the time, “innovative” LNG tankers have been by no means constructed. The Tennor funding fund of the monetary entrepreneur Lars Windhorst had not supplied the required co-financing from the FSG shipyard – which additionally consists of the Nobiskrug shipyard in Rendsburg. Now FSG and Nobiskrug are bancrupt once more, like they have been a number of years in the past, and on this winter day there’s largely settlement about who’s primarily accountable. “Because of the ownership structure and Mr. Windhorst, a lot of things went past the shipyard,” says Habeck.

In November, one of many medical insurance firms concerned in FSG and Nobiskrug filed for insolvency for the shipyards – salaries for the roughly 500 workers had not been paid and social safety contributions had not been paid. The accountable courts opened the preliminary insolvency proceedings in mid-December with retroactive impact to the start of November. For the 2 insolvency directors Christoph Morgen, who takes care of FSG, and Hendrik Gittermann at Nobiskrug, time is now extraordinarily quick to seek out a number of new house owners for the shipyards – due to the Christmas break, it’s mainly solely round 4 weeks as an alternative of the same old three months . The insolvency profit is paid to workers for the months November to January.

Christoph Morgen, who has loads of expertise in rescuing shipyards, sees a possibility for a contemporary begin at FSG and Nobiskrug. There are “several interested parties at home and abroad,” he stated to a number of dozen ladies and men within the shipyard corridor. The shipyard’s properties aren’t mortgaged. To purchase time for the transition, a ferry that has already begun might be accomplished for the Australian transport firm SeaHighway. We have already mentioned this with the corporate. “We have already had initial discussions with potential investors. These make a positive investment decision dependent on the future capacity utilization of the locations,” says Morgen. “In addition to orders for superyachts and the completion of the RoRo ferry in Flensburg, the prospect of future orders for the navy and the offshore wind industry is particularly important. The potential investors are hoping for planning security through promises from politicians.”

“This high level of demand in the early phase of the investor search makes me confident that we will find a viable solution despite the extremely tight schedule,” says Gittermann. “I was particularly pleasantly surprised by the many inquiries from abroad. They show that the quality of the superyachts built by Nobiskrug continues to enjoy an excellent reputation worldwide.”

Morgen and Gittermann don’t sugarcoat the situation of the shipyards. There have been no annual monetary statements for 2 years, says Morgen. Hundreds of reminder letters accrued within the months earlier than the chapter submitting in Flensburg. No one concerned can clarify why the Tennor funding fund or Windhorst mainly let the shipyards run dry. The habits would not make sense. Because clearly Tennor didn’t profit from the motion or extract capital from the 2 shipbuilding firms. There aren’t any new orders past the SeaHighway ferry, which is a few third full. There is a yacht fragment close to Nobiskrug in Rendsburg, the way forward for which continues to be unclear.

Economics Minister Habeck, however, made it clear within the shipyard corridor that there’s appreciable want for shipyards like FSG and Nobiskrug – to construct parts for converter stations which are obligatory for connecting offshore wind farms to the land community, and for the development of particular ships for the offshore -Wind energy business and in addition for joint contracts to construct ships for the German Navy.

For Habeck, every of his quite a few visits to FSG in recent times is a house sport – constituency Flensburg 1 with the town of Flensburg and the district of Schleswig-Flensburg is the federal constituency he received instantly in 2021. “Politicians cannot help directly with orders, but they can help to initiate orders and organize guarantees.”

The scenario is certainly completely different than it was a number of years in the past. The German Navy desires to considerably increase its program for the renewal and growth of the fleet – particularly in view of the rising tensions with Russia within the Baltic Sea. In the approaching years, there’ll hardly be any free shipyard capability in Europe and internationally for the development of offshore converter stations. And Germany has misplaced its as soon as main place within the manufacturing of such programs prior to now decade as a result of the federal authorities stopped the growth of offshore wind energy on the time.

One of a number of vital choices has already been made with regard to Lars Windhorst, says insolvency administrator Morgen. Windhorst continues to be managing director of FSG and Nobiskrug due to the preliminary insolvency proceedings. The precise insolvency proceedings are scheduled to start out on February 1st. But he has now been faraway from the significantly vital subsidiary liable for the shipyards’ actual property.

In latest years, FSG has specialised in technologically refined, so-called RoRo and RoPax ferries, whereas Nobiskrug has specialised within the manufacturing of superyachts. The merging of the 2 shipyards after their final bankruptcies served, amongst different issues, the purpose of getting the hulls of the yachts for Nobiskrug manufactured at FSG and thus growing synergy results.

In order to have the ability to construct ships once more, the insolvency directors need to preserve as many workers as potential within the shipyards within the coming weeks. And they first need to renew the authorized foundation for shipbuilding. Because there was no more cash, FSG misplaced its TÜV approval final 12 months.

Olaf Preuß is a enterprise reporter for WELT and WELT AM SONNTAG Hamburg and Northern Germany. Shipbuilding has been considered one of his most important matters for many years.