German yard takeover completed

Abu Dhabi Mar Kiel has taken over the facilities, equipment and infrastructure of the former HDW Gaarden, and has 172 employees. The yard is currently building a 75m yacht and an offshore transformer platform; construction will begin on a second offshore transformer platform, for which an order has already been placed, in due course.

The company describes its target markets as offshore, megayachts and construction of specialised vessels. The managing directors of the new company are Susanne Wiegand and Holger Kahl, and operations manager is Christian Schmitt, a former manager at HDW Gaarden’s surface vessel division.

The yard regards future prospects in its main fields of activity to be good, and is looking at new projects to guarantee full capacity utilisation in the future. In order to ensure a long-term and optimal utilisation of the facility in Kiel and a competitive cost structure, a close cooperation with parner yard Nobiskrug in Rendsburg, providing major services, has been established.