Shipyard sale
September 29, 2009
The company announced Emden would now become a high technology site for offshore wind power plants. SIAG would take on about 700 of the roughly 1,200 Nordseewerke employees; about 375 would remain at TKMS. The decision does not affect TKMS warship and submarine-building operations, including construction in Hamburg of frigates for the German Navy.
ThyssenKrupp, Germany's biggest steel-maker, also operates the HDW-Gaarden container shipyard in Kiel.
The announcement has angered labor groups. Hundreds of protesters showed up at the SIAG's gates, which were closed on Tuesday following the decision to acquire the Nordseewerke shipyard.
Merchant shipbuilding in Germany in decline
The sale spells the end to ship building in the northern German port city, said Wilfried Alberts, head of the Emden branch of the IG Metall engineering union. “More than 100 years of tradition have come to an end.”
Employment at German shipyards has reached a historic low, according to the Bremen-based Institute for Work and Economy (IAW) and the IG Metall.
The industry suffers from structural overcapacity, exacerbated by a slump in demand and cancellations particularly in container and cruise ship building as a result of the economic crisis. Several German shipyards have already been forced to declare insolvency.
db/AP/dpa
Editor: Michael Lawton