Berliner Boersenzeitung - 'Golden Dream' turns into nightmare for German port town

EUR -
AED 3.993896
AFN 72.852991
ALL 98.24255
AMD 420.905929
ANG 1.960947
AOA 991.671397
ARS 1079.282118
AUD 1.652057
AWG 1.957246
AZN 1.846926
BAM 1.94988
BBD 2.196831
BDT 130.025259
BGN 1.955832
BHD 0.409741
BIF 3147.904053
BMD 1.087359
BND 1.431693
BOB 7.535332
BRL 6.298093
BSD 1.087997
BTN 91.511009
BWP 14.488415
BYN 3.560888
BYR 21312.234691
BZD 2.193202
CAD 1.511924
CDF 3092.448479
CHF 0.939543
CLF 0.037608
CLP 1037.732042
CNY 7.719266
CNH 7.741229
COP 4800.6896
CRC 558.404752
CUC 1.087359
CUP 28.815011
CVE 110.530289
CZK 25.333506
DJF 193.245019
DKK 7.457981
DOP 65.730702
DZD 144.63952
EGP 53.345282
ERN 16.310384
ETB 131.609273
FJD 2.474775
FKP 0.832013
GBP 0.839599
GEL 2.973911
GGP 0.832013
GHS 17.789084
GIP 0.832013
GMD 77.742974
GNF 9383.907106
GTQ 8.406479
GYD 227.834608
HKD 8.45166
HNL 27.25978
HRK 7.490848
HTG 143.185307
HUF 408.145063
IDR 17178.911623
ILS 4.078232
IMP 0.832013
INR 91.505983
IQD 1424.440176
IRR 45783.246635
ISK 148.903211
JEP 0.832013
JMD 171.918078
JOD 0.771043
JPY 165.44929
KES 140.269094
KGS 93.309373
KHR 4430.987743
KMF 492.031196
KPW 978.622776
KRW 1495.237642
KWD 0.333287
KYD 0.906772
KZT 531.655958
LAK 23856.655063
LBP 97427.357908
LKR 318.991581
LRD 208.609712
LSL 19.039377
LTL 3.210688
LVL 0.657733
LYD 5.229955
MAD 10.70719
MDL 19.422571
MGA 5018.161143
MKD 61.586053
MMK 3531.699333
MNT 3694.845616
MOP 8.710995
MRU 43.494145
MUR 49.833341
MVR 16.744658
MWK 1887.108312
MXN 21.86573
MYR 4.761
MZN 69.486158
NAD 19.039896
NGN 1787.389748
NIO 39.987619
NOK 11.964308
NPR 146.417534
NZD 1.821049
OMR 0.418662
PAB 1.088127
PEN 4.09744
PGK 4.359763
PHP 63.5692
PKR 302.122275
PLN 4.357336
PYG 8568.985619
QAR 3.958642
RON 4.975431
RSD 117.031371
RUB 107.647597
RWF 1483.157557
SAR 4.084062
SBD 9.031843
SCR 14.928378
SDG 654.044516
SEK 11.663229
SGD 1.435118
SHP 0.832013
SLE 24.710207
SLL 22801.369244
SOS 620.8821
SRD 37.955351
STD 22506.134126
SVC 9.520098
SYP 2732.022181
SZL 19.039502
THB 36.731166
TJS 11.58804
TMT 3.81663
TND 3.369723
TOP 2.546701
TRY 37.352983
TTD 7.375811
TWD 34.550285
TZS 2925.944714
UAH 45.097205
UGX 3981.911409
USD 1.087359
UYU 45.332377
UZS 13934.505168
VEF 3939014.785334
VES 46.542264
VND 27531.927672
VUV 129.093467
WST 3.045892
XAF 653.989612
XAG 0.032235
XAU 0.0004
XCD 2.938642
XDR 0.817341
XOF 652.963012
XPF 119.331742
YER 271.676051
ZAR 19.039481
ZMK 9787.541457
ZMW 29.187197
ZWL 350.129126
  • RBGPF

    5.4100

    66.41

    +8.15%

  • CMSC

    0.1100

    24.64

    +0.45%

  • CMSD

    0.1103

    24.92

    +0.44%

  • VOD

    -0.0300

    9.32

    -0.32%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    7.1

    +0.28%

  • NGG

    0.1900

    64.45

    +0.29%

  • SCS

    0.1100

    12.25

    +0.9%

  • RELX

    -0.0200

    47.06

    -0.04%

  • BCC

    0.0500

    134.26

    +0.04%

  • RIO

    -0.3200

    65.01

    -0.49%

  • JRI

    0.0500

    13.1

    +0.38%

  • BCE

    -2.9800

    29.12

    -10.23%

  • AZN

    0.0100

    71.43

    +0.01%

  • BTI

    0.0400

    35.11

    +0.11%

  • BP

    0.5000

    29.73

    +1.68%

  • GSK

    0.0900

    36.97

    +0.24%

'Golden Dream' turns into nightmare for German port town
'Golden Dream' turns into nightmare for German port town

'Golden Dream' turns into nightmare for German port town

The unfinished "Golden Dream" rests quietly in a dock as the Covid-19 pandemic has turned the cruise ship into a nightmare for the shipyard in Wismar along Germany's windswept Baltic coast.

Text size:

Destined to have become one of the world's largest liners, the "Global Dream" will be lucky to ever set sail after the Asian-owned MV Werften shipyard filed for bankruptcy last month.

With no buyer having stepped forward, thousands of jobs at the shipyard are at risk and the local economy stands to take a huge hit.

"We are the classic victims of coronavirus," said Carsten Haake, MV Werften's chief executive.

The bankruptcy filing meant that construction work on the vessel, which would have become one of the first ships capable of hosting up to 10,000 passengers and crew, was halted.

MV Werften's fate was decided thousands of kilometres away in Asia, in the offices of Genting HK, the owner of the shipyard and the Dream Cruises operator.

Specialised in tourism and casinos, the company collapsed from the disruption to travel caused by the pandemic and the decision made by its Malaysian parent company Genting to abandon it.

Without sufficient financial guarantees, the German state, which had agreed to support the shipyard, withdrew.

Since then, the 342-metre-long cruise ship -- a little taller than the Eiffel Tower and adorned with a lurid cartoon fresco of astronauts and mermaids -- has been waiting for a saviour.

The project with an estimated cost of 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion), is "75 percent" complete, according to the shipyard's management. But it requires 600 million euros to keep going.

While the ship waits, uncertainty grips the 2,000 employees at MV Werften's docks in Stralsund, Rostock and Wismar, across the coast of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania in what used to be East Germany.

- Countdown -

Christoph Morgen was appointed to be the legal administrator for the company with one goal: "find a buyer for the Global Dream".

The ship was conceived when the cruise business was booming but demand for ocean-borne holidays has been hurt by the pandemic.

Even if "some investors have expressed an interest", Morgen said, securing a good offer for such a giant ship is difficult, not least while the coronavirus is still around.

Administrators are on the clock for March 1, their deadline for finding a viable solution.

The situation is also being monitored closely by local government figures for whom the collapse was a "shock, as it was for the whole city", the Social Democrat mayor of Wismar Thomas Beyer told AFP.

"Many families depend on the facility, generations have worked there," he added.

The shipyards are closely linked to the history of the city. Built after the Second World War, they were first used to service Soviet ships, before branching out in the 1950s.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of East German industry led to massive layoffs.

Privatised in the 1990s, the shipyards have since then had a series of owners from both Germany and abroad, but had survived the economic ups and downs until now.

- Wismar no more -

On Wismar's central square, hemmed by the colourful buildings typical of Hanseatic cities, Heike Reimann, 67, worried what impact the disappearance of the flagship industry might have on the town.

"Wismar, without its naval yard, it's not Wismar," said Reimann, whose husband, Siegfried, worked for 10 years in the docks.

If no buyer comes forward, the yards will have to be converted to offshore wind or hydrogen production sites, symbols of the country's energy transition, the administrator Morgen said.

The idea appeals to some residents.

"Is it really a good idea to still be building big boats what with global warming?" said Christin Buerger, 63.

But the pivot to green energy would be a disaster for local workers, unions said.

"For a different project, different employees with different skills will be needed," said Henning Groskreutz from the IG Metall union.

The mayor's office is equally cold on the idea.

"We have to keep our maritime industries, it is a part of who we are," said mayor Beyer.

(Y.Yildiz--BBZ)