New bail-out secures German yard projects

The loan has come out of the German Government’s Economic Stabilisation Fund (WSF), created to help the economy over the financial crisis created by Covid 19. MVW has been closed since March and is one of many German yards whose business has been hit by the pandemic.
MVW spokesman Stefan Sprunk told The Motorship the loan was the first from the WSF and that further funding totalling about €500 million had been applied for. Earlier this year the group received an interim emergency cash injection of €175 million from a security reserve fund created by banks and shareholders. That cash was to settle bills, keep the business afloat, maintain operations and preserve jobs up to now.

The follow-on WSF loan now, enables MVW during October to “move forward to finalise completion of” the group’s Polar Class expedition cruise ship Crystal Endeavor, which is now expected to be delivered next March.

The 164x23m, 20,000gt newbuild was floated out at MV Stralsund late last year for delivery originally due in August, but because of the pandemic it is still berthed at MVW in Stralsund for final outfitting.

MVW employs some 3,000 people at facilities in Wismar, Rostock-Warnemünde and Stralsund. Most are on short time but according to Stefan Sprunk not all of them will resume work immediately.

He told The Motorship: “We will get the necessary colleagues out of short-time work, depending on the requirements and progress of construction. As things stand today we cannot say definitely how many that will be, but it will certainly not be all 3,000”.

The new WSF loan will also reportedly mean continued construction at MVW of Global Dream, the first of two 208,000gt cruise ships for Genting’s Dream Cruises. It was originally due for delivery by early next year with the second for hand-over in 2022. An MVW statement said without further elaboration that the new loan would make it possible to “reach the next production milestone” in the already well advanced construction of Global Dream.

The Global Class ships will be 342×46.4m and of 96,000 kW. Each will have six MAN 48/60CR diesels and three Azipod XO thrusters.

Unmentiioned in the latest statements has been MVW’s new follow-up series of 88,000gt Universal Class cruise ships, the first of which had been scheduled for delivery in late 2022.