The largest cruise ship in the world is currently being built on the Baltic Sea.

The Global 1 is supposed to pamper 9500 passengers with a very luxurious ambience.

What sounds fantastic, is a tremendous game for the more than 1900 employees at MV Werften.

The wages and salaries for December have still not been paid on Friday, and at the same time there are worries whether the owner of the shipyards himself is on the verge of bankruptcy: It is the Malaysian Genting group, which is based on casinos and cruise ships Business model has suffered severe stumbling due to the corona pandemic and has accumulated high debts.

Susanne Preuss

Business correspondent in Stuttgart.

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The company itself fueled speculation about the critical situation of Genting by suspending stock trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and referring to an important company announcement.

However, such a message was not received until Sunday evening, Asian time, and the game continues until the new week.

In the meantime, the future of the MV shipyards was apparently being wrestled at the highest political level.

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) and Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner (FDP) are facing the decision to release money to save the MV shipyards.

It is about 600 million euros that could be paid through the economic stabilization fund.

As with other corona-related aids, a personal contribution is a prerequisite.

"Assigning blame does not help"

However, Genting has so far refused to pay the requested 60 million euros, referring to its own problems. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) is said to have been in contact with the Malaysian owner by phone. The state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in turn, has slipped into the role of lender to support Genting with 78 million euros. The political decision on this just before Christmas was also tied to the condition that there was an agreement between Genting and the federal government - a reservation that is now even preoccupying the Schwerin district court.

The President of Genting Hong Kong, Colin Au, and the Managing Director of the shipyards group, Carsten Haake, expressed a lack of understanding about the German government's approach on Sunday. Au appealed to the responsible politicians to rethink their stance: "It's about thousands of families." In addition, an entire industry including its suppliers at home and abroad is threatened. "To drop the shipyards now would be the biggest economic mistake that the federal government could make," emphasized Au.

There is now talk of “hours of decision” where the future of the shipyards is being negotiated.

“Assigning blame doesn't help.

We expect everyone involved to get together and find a solution, ”is the appeal by Daniel Friedrich, district manager of IG Metall coast.

In his opinion, the future of the MV shipyards hangs “by a thread”.

The IG Metall branches in Lübeck-Wismar, Rostock and Stralsund-Neubrandenburg are planning an online general meeting for late Monday afternoon to report on further developments.