Wadan secures life-saving deal

The crisis-ridden Wadan Yards in Wismar and Rostock-Warnemünde have received new shipbuilding orders totalling ?1bn. Wadan Yards’ Russian co-owner Andrej Burlakow announced that four passenger ships, each worth ?250m, would be built at Wadan Yards. The work would start before the beginning of the summer, he said.

Wadan Yards was not able to give details about the deal. “We are still waiting for information from Moscow,” said spokesman Matthias Trott. “We have not signed any contracts yet.”

The two yards in Wismar and Warnemünde were close to bankruptcy last year after failing to get fresh bank funding. They had to be rescued by a bridging loan of ?60m from the German state of Mecklenburg West-Pomerania, where the yards are located.

The yards managed to get a ?180m loan from a consortium of Deutsche Bank and KfW Ipex to secure financing for the 12 ships on order.