Genting Hong Kong announced the acquisition of Nordic Yards’ 3 shipyards in Stralsund, Wismar and Warnemunde, Germany for EUR 230,6 million.
The purchase of the three yards, along with Lloyd Werft in 2015, enables Genting HK to realize its global cruise fleet strategy over the next decade for its brands - Dream Cruises, Crystal Cruises and Star Cruises.
The newly acquired yards together with the previously purchased Lloyd Werft will be managed as the Lloyd Werft Group, optimizing the strengths of each of the yards for design and construction of cruise ships and megayachts.
Ownership of the shipyards will free the company from both the delivery timing and pricing uncertainties associated with the cruise ship order book cycle, which is at a historic high and allow management to focus on the strategic planning, design and deployment of its planned cruise ships among its three brands.
The three newly acquired shipyards are unique with covered dry-docks and building halls, resulting in high labour productivity and completion quality as cruise ships can be constructed regardless of weather conditions.
The Wismar shipyard’s dry-dock measures 340m long and 67m wide and the Warnemunde shipyard’s drydock measures 320m long and 54m wide and are capable of building cruise ships larger than the largest cruise ships currently afloat.
The Stralsund shipyard has a ship lift to launch cruise ships and megayachts up to 270m long.
These shipyards, with further investment, will have a steel fabrication capacity of about 150,000 tons a year, sufficient to build a number of cruise ships and a megayacht yearly.
Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chairman ofGenting HK, said:
“With all the yards situated in Germany, a country with a long tradition of efficiency in building high quality and innovative cruise ships and megayachts, the Lloyd Werft Group, with approximately 1,700 experienced management and workers, is well placed to succeed as one of the best cruise and megayacht shipbuilding companies in the world.
“Germany is also where the largest cluster of marine equipment suppliers are located and has excellent Government maritime coordination policies. The investment in the Lloyd Werft Group will have good returns from the 10 year planned order book, fits perfectly with the Company’s global cruise strategy and is in the long term interest of the company.”