It's over
MV Werften have filed for bankruptcy.
A shock for the employees, for the whole region.
It is true that insolvency always offers the chance of a fresh start with a new impetus and without legacy.
In the case of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania shipyards, however, the insolvency application is probably only the temporary climax of a decline that has been foreseeable for a long time.
This is mainly due to the fact that the Genting Group, as the owner of the company, is also the largest customer of the shipyards group. The corona pandemic had a hard time affecting the gambling and tourism-oriented group. Now Genting can no longer finance the ship that was commissioned in Wismar for more than one billion euros. Even a symbolic sum with which Genting was supposed to prove his belief in the future to politicians, he no longer wanted or could not raise it.
The advantage of this escalation is that it sharpens one's view of the real situation. Up to 600 million euros from the economic stabilization fund, with which corona consequences are to be mitigated, could have been given to the MV Werften. At least this was discussed intensively. But should the German public sector finance the business model of a Malaysian entertainment company whose concept is to rip off cruise customers around the clock at gaming tables and machines? And should one support an industry in times of the climate crisis that produces such unbelievable CO2 spinners? No.
Does that mean that shipyard workers have to worry about their future?
Not necessarily, because now it is important to examine where the skills of the employees could be used more sensibly.
There is definitely a perspective.
If the climate-friendly restructuring of the economy is to succeed, the wind power and hydrogen industries will need a lot of well-trained and motivated employees, especially near the coast.
Switching to this point of view and acquiring new skills will not be easy, but it will likely be inevitable.