Print
Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
Category: More News More News
Published: 01 March 2017 01 March 2017

Blohm + Voss, the Hamburg based shipbuilder and ship repairer, plans to cut 300 positions, about one third of its workforce, the Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR) broadcasting company reports on its website.

The company, whose floating docks are part of the cityscape of Hamburg on the River Elbe, was recently sold by British investors to the privately owned Luerssen shipbuilding group. Blohm + Voss has become a major cruise ship refurbishment yard in recent years. It also builds surface combatants to the German navy.

The new owner needs to restructure the business of Blohm + Voss, which also has built several mega yachts, due to pressure from an overcapacity that is plaguing the shipbuilding industry world wide.

“Blohm + Voss is in a critical condition. In order to turn the shipyard viable and profitable in the long term, all measures of adjustment (of its operations to market conditions) will be necessary in the coming months,” NDR cited a statement it had received from Luerssen.

“Naturally I am shocked. It concerns a third of us,” said a shipyard worker interviewed by NDR in a report posted online.