P&S faces carve-up as problems escalate

Tom Todd writes: A statement Monday by new CEO Rüdiger Fuchs said what has been evident to many observers for some time as due deliveries fail to materialise.

P&S has long boasted a full order book and deliveries through to next year but Fuchs said “Volkswerft has taken on too many orders to build new ships in too short a time”. He added this was without adequate production, planning and design. “As a result Volkswerft has not delivered any ships since April 2011,” he declared,

The comments came after Danish ferry operator DFDS told The Motorship deliveries of two 195m ro-ro ferries worth €128 million and due by Volkswerft last month and October were being delayed by a full half year to late December and late January.

“The late delivery means that we will have to find other solutions for providing the necessary transports for our customers as well as for a somewhat later entry into our network” said Gert Jakobsen at DFDS.

He added that “late delivery is financially regulated in the contract”. The same applies to Scandlines, whose two passenger ferries Berlin and Copenhagen are also now being delivered seven months late in September and November.

Elsewhere scheduled delivery of four 52m patrol boats for Sweden and five ice-breaking container and supply ships for Royal Arctic Line appeared to be dragging. RAL said its ships were for delivery June, August, October, November and December, but none has been handed over yet.

Referring to those delayed series Rüdiger Fuchs said Volkswerft “must restore its delivery capability” and deliver them up to the second half of 2013 before examining later orders. It must also restrict itself to three newbuilds per year if it is to offer a sustainable base for the future.

Fuchs’ comments followed meetings with local authorities at which he outlined his restructuring strategy for P&S. That strategy is required by the EU Commission within six months as a condition for its authorisation of a German state loan of €152,400,000 for P&S. Others are also putting up money to save the shipbuilder.