Local entrepreneurs are taking action
Bremerhaven Lloyd Werft sold
3/6/2022 1:44 p.m
With the bankruptcy of the MV shipyards, the future of the Bremerhaven Lloyd shipyard, which belongs to the association, is also uncertain. But now there is hope. Two well-known entrepreneurs from Bremen want to bring the company back onto safe waters.
The Bremerhaven Lloyd shipyard has been sold to the Rönner-Zech Group. As lawyer Christoph Morgen announced, the purchase contract was signed late on Friday evening. Tomorrow is the insolvency administrator of the parent company MV Werften in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. “For two days we conducted intensive negotiations with different bidders,” it said. “Both concepts were presented to us in detail. In the end, the Rönner-Zech Group was awarded the contract.” The new owners are the Bremen building contractor Kurt Zech and the Bremerhaven steel and shipbuilding contractor Thorsten Rönner. The Federal Cartel Office still has to approve the purchase, which is expected in the near future.
In the wake of the MV shipyards in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the traditional Lloyd shipyard in Bremerhaven also filed for bankruptcy in January. Both companies belonged to the Hong Kong conglomerate Genting. Its cruise division was in trouble because of the pandemic. The Lloyd shipyard has around 230 employees.
In addition to the insolvent operating company Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven, the Rönner-Zech Group also took over the non-insolvent holding company Lloyd Investment and Management Company, Morgen said. The aim is to withdraw the bankruptcy application. In this way, all creditors would get their money and the employees of the shipyard would keep their employment relationships unchanged. According to the restructuring experts Morgen, the Rönner-Zech Group has agreed to present a business plan. If an auditor confirms, based on the plan, that the yard has a future perspective, bankruptcy can be averted. Bremen politicians had campaigned for a regional solution.
Morgen did not want to give any details about the concept of the Rönner-Zech Group, the new owners should do that themselves. In principle, it is planned to continue using the shipyard for ship repairs and conversions. Free areas should therefore be used for work in the steel construction sector, for example. The employees of the shipyard were informed in writing shortly after the signing of the purchase contract, and a works meeting is planned for Monday afternoon.