Alan Lam reporting
Genting Hong Kong, a leading global leisure, entertainment and hospitality group that operates three cruise brands, has just announced the acquisition of three shipyards - in Wismar, Warnemunde and Stralsund - from Nordic Yards for a total of €230.6 million.
The Asia based group is making huge strides into the highly consolidated cruise ship building sphere. This move came shortly after the acquisition of Lloyd Werft last year. It forms a part of Genting’s global fleet expansion and cruise business strategy.
“The rapid growth of the world cruise industry,” said Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Genting Hong Kong, “especially in China, has led to cruise ship order book reaching an all-time high. In order to ensure that the company can build the required number of cruise ships in the next decade for our global fleet expansion, it is strategic that we acquired shipyards that can build our cruise ships in a timely basis and in a more cost effective manner.”
The three new yards and the previously acquired Lloyd Werft will come under the Lloyd Werft Group. It will effectively become another major European cruise ship builder. Having its own shipyards will free the company from both the delivery time constrains and pricing uncertainties associated with depending on other builders - most of whom have orderbook levels at a historic high at present - thus allowing the management to focus on other strategic aspects of the cruise business.
These shipyards are substantial in sizes, with covered drydocks and building halls: the Wismar shipyard’s drydock measures 340 metres long and 67 metres wide; the Warnemunde shipyard’s drydock measures 320 metres long and 54 metres wide, capable of building cruise ships bigger than the Oasis class; the Stralsund shipyard has a ship lift to launch cruise ships and megayachts up to 270 metres long. With further investment, these yards together will have a steel fabrication capacity of about 150,000 tons a year, sufficient to build a number of cruise ships and a megayachts annually.
“With all the yards situated in Germany,” continued Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, “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 ship building 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 orderbook, fits perfectly with the company’s global cruise strategy and is in the long-term interest of the Company.”
So the Genting story continues …