SSW changes course

The days of Germany’s SSW Schichau Seebeckwerft as a newbuilding yard appear to have ended and the yard is expected to shift its focus from shipbuilding to ship blocks. The insolvent Bremerhaven-based facility is expected to focus in future on ship blocks and other steel structures under a new deal shaped by insolvency administrator Per Hendrik Heerma.

It has also emerged that its near-neighbour, Lloyd Werft, which specialises in shiprepair and conversion, forms part of a new investor group in the company.

Earlier this year, SSW became one of four yards in Germany to file for insolvency. It employs over 300 people but has had a chequered past, including bankruptcy six years ago. SSW has been building 1,000 TEU container-feederships for Germany’s Bernd Sibum but is said to have sustained hefty losses.

It is reported locally that apart from Lloyd Werft, others in the newly agreed investor group include a couple of its previous shareholders plus a Bremerhaven steel-construction company. It is unclear what role will be played in future by managing director Karl-Heinz Jahncke. Neither he nor the insolvency administrator were available this week for comment.

SSW is known for its Super-1000 containership design, for which the yard worked with Vuyk Engineering of Groningen in The Netherlands. Several have been built under licence at other yards.

Meanwhile, the insolvency procedure involving Emden-based Cassens Werft has yet to be completed. Yard boss Christian Hohagen said: “We are living, we are working, we have enough to do.” That work, apart from repairs, focuses on completing an innovative prototype ro-ro/lo-lo vessel for German wind-turbine manufacturer Enercon.

Hohagen says the 9,700 DWT ship, the hull of which was removed by Enercon from the troubled Lindenau yard near Kiel, should be completed by the end of 2009. There has been speculation that Enercon may acquire Cassens, possibly to build similar ships to carry wind turbines or to use the site for exporting products. Hohagen says he is unable to comment on any potential future investors and that currently there are no discussions about further so-called “E-Ship 1” newbuildings for Enercon.