The shipping company MSC apparently stands before the purchase of Meyer Werft. The Federal Government, the State of Lower Saxony, and the Geneva-based shipping company plan to sign an agreement next Tuesday that grants MSC the right to purchase around 80 percent of Meyer Werft. This reports Spiegel. These are the shares that have been held by the state since September 2024. The last major German cruise ship shipyard would thus move to the world’s largest shipping group, two years earlier than planned.
The Meyer family, which currently holds around 20 percent of the Papenburg shipyard, was the first to negotiate. The family does not want to give up the shipyard but to become an owner together with MSC, and is likely to hold significantly more than 20 percent in the future. They explained through a spokesperson that the talks proceeded constructively with all parties.
The Federal Government and the State had saved the shipyard from insolvency in 2024 with 400 million euros and guarantees for a credit line of 2.6 billion euros. Hannover kept open whether the state would co-sign on Tuesday. Meyer Werft did not wish to comment, and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and MSC did not respond to inquiries.
