ADM’s Nobiskrug eyes insolvent Lindenau

Peter Seeger, the head of the Kiel branch of the IG Metall trade union, told The Motorship on Thursday that Nobiskrug had expressed interest in Lindenau Werft. He also confirmed media reports that Nobiskrug’s top managers had visited the Kiel shipyard.

The media reports said MDs Susanne Wiegand and Holger Kahl had in fact been to Lindenau twice and that an offer to receivers HWW Wienberg Wilhelm was now under consideration. The media also quoted Mr Seeger as saying the offer was “a final chance” for Lindenau.

The yard went into receivership in late 2008. Once Germany’s leading tanker builder, it has kept its head above water with repair and maintenance work since then as its work force has shrunk from about 370 to some 30.

Lindenau MD Dieter Kühne told The Motorship Thursday he could not comment on the reports of a Nobiskrug purchase offer. He did say however that the yard was becoming increasingly well-known as a repair location and that “things were happening” in that sector. Nobiskrug is believed to be interested in Lindenau as a repair facility.

Mr Kühne said ships currently at the yard for maintenance or repair included a sail ship, a Navy tanker, a police patrol boat, an icebreaker and a tug. Others had just left, he added.

There was no immediate response from Nobiskrug to a

Motorship

request for comment on the latest reports. German media said Nobiskrug, best known these days for building luxury yachts, had just won new offshore platform work and that its ADM sister yard in Kiel – the former Kiel-Gaarden, part of HDW – had also won similar work.