New owners found for bankrupt German shipyards Nobiskrug and FSG

Daniel Guenther, Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein, speaks to members of the media at the FSG shipyard in Flensburg. A pair of shipyards in northern Germany owned by investor Lars Windhorst have been bought out of bankruptcy by two established shipbuilding firms, according to the bankruptcy administrators. Axel Heimken/dpa

A pair of shipyards in northern Germany owned by investor Lars Windhorst have been bought out of bankruptcy by two established shipbuilding firms, according to the bankruptcy administrators.

The Nobiskurg shipyard in the northern German town of Rendsberg and the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) in the city of Flensburg on the Danish border are both part of Windhorst's Tennor Group, which went into insolvency proceedings in December.

Nobiskrug and FSG had already been experiencing problems for some time.

The Bremen-based luxury yacht builder Lürssen will take over the Nobiskrug shipyard, according to provisional insolvency administrators Hendrik Gittermann and Christoph Morgen. Lürssen already owns a shipyard in the nearby town of Schacht-Audorf, which sits on the same canal.

The FSG shipyard will be bought by Bremerhaven-based Heinrich Röner Group, which specializes in shipbuilding and heavy steel construction, the administrators reported.

The Australian shipping company SeaRoad is expected to act as a cooperation partner for FSG until the ferry the company ordered from FSG is completed by the shipyard.

The Heirich Rönner Group had already purchased the steel construction division of the Rendsburg Nobiskrug shipyard in November 2021.

According to Morgen, the employees are to resume work there shortly.

Nobiskrug has built well over 750 ships since it was founded in 1905. The shipyard specializes in the construction of luxury yachts over 60 metres in length.

One of the best-known new builds of recent years is the massive sailing yacht A, which is almost 143 metres long.

In FSG's more than 150-year history, the shipyard has built a wide range of different types of ships, from passenger steamers and three-masted schooners to fleet service boats and research vessels.

Daniel Guenther, Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein, speaks to members of the media at the FSG shipyard in Flensburg. A pair of shipyards in northern Germany owned by investor Lars Windhorst have been bought out of bankruptcy by two established shipbuilding firms, according to the bankruptcy administrators. Axel Heimken/dpa