FSG looks to stability under new owners

Germany Correspondent Tom Todd reports that the latest large RoRo ship for the Norwegian Group is also the first for the yard’s former owner since SIEM sold its remaining FSG shares in September. New owners Tennor (formerly Sapinda) Holding now have 100% of FSG.

Reports said Tennor had made a sizeable fresh capital investment in the yard, which will have been welcome. FSG posted a loss of €111 million last year mainly because of delivery delays on the €150 million, 54,975gt Irish Ferries newbuilding W.B.Yeats.

FSG acknowledged “considerable losses” and penalty payments which reports said affected funds earmarked for further completions. Rescheduling had resulted in “temporary production undercapacity”, FSG admitted but denied reports some orders had been cancelled.

The latest SIEM RoRo ferry – Hull No. 781 – is one of the rescheduled projects, as was sister ship Leevsten – Hull No. 780 – delivered in August. They are 209.79m long and 26.00m wide and draw 6.45m. Of 32,887gt they have 4,076 lane m and two MAN 8L48/60CR main engines.

SIEM took over FSG during a previous period of financial uncertainty in 2014 and has been its biggest customer since then, helping cement the yard’s world lead in RoRo and RoPax production. It also introduced it to offshore with ground-breaking well-intervention and specialist oil and gas seismic vessels.

According to FSG Managing Director Alex Gregg-Smith, SIEM will continue to work closely with Tennor and with customers and suppliers “to ensure the long-term growth and prosperity of the business”. How that co-operation will function has not been detailed, but the yard will clearly be hoping for further Siem newbuilding support in future.

Hull Nos 781 and 780 were rescheduled so that “comprehensive equipment and operational works” could continue on the already delayed, LNG RoPax Honfleur for Brittany Ferries, FSG said. That €195 million, 42,000gt ship will now enter service for the 2020 season. It is being described as Europe’s largest LNG cruise ferry with four Wärtsilä DF engines. Two further LNG ferries together costing some €438 million are on order for delivery to Australia’s TT- Line in 2021.