Bremen-based Lürssen shipyard group is operating its naval shipbuilding activities under the new brand Naval Vessels Lürssen (NVL) with immediate effect. As independent companies, all defence locations, and thus all shipbuilding capabilities of the Defence division, will be united in the new NVL Group, Lürssen announced at the end of September.
As the future umbrella company of the NVL Group, the independent company NVL was spun off from Fr. Lürssen Werft GmbH & Co. KG. According to the information provided, the NVL Group is now responsible for the entire newbuilding spectrum as well as all repair activities of naval and coast guard vessels. New construction and refits of yachts will continue unchanged under the Lürssen brand with Fr. Lürssen Werft as the holding company.
“With the Yacht and Defence divisions, we serve very different and increasingly heterogeneous markets and target groups. In addition, the complexity in both civil and military shipbuilding is growing,” explains Friedrich Lürßen, shareholder of the Lürssen Group. The management and owners decided on the separation of the two divisions in order to optimally exploit the competencies as a shipbuilder and the infrastructure at the shipyard locations, Lürßen states.
According to his cousin and co-partner Peter Lürßen, the split into two divisions is intended to strengthen national and international competitiveness and position the group of companies for the challenges of the future.
The umbrella company of the NVL Group, based in Bremen-Vegesack, is managed jointly by Klaus Borgschulte and Tim Wagner as spokespersons alongside Dirk Malgowski and Lena Ströbele as managing directors. The NVL Group includes the newbuilding sites at Peene-Werft in Wolgast and Blohm+Voss in Hamburg, the service activities of Lürssen Logistics, the two repair yards Neue Jadewerft in Wilhelmshaven and Norderwerft in Hamburg as well as sites in Australia, Bulgaria and Brunei.
Changed and Unchanged
“All current projects for the German Navy and for our international customers will continue unchanged under the new umbrella brand,” explains Tim Wagner. “As a privately managed shipyard group, we are and will remain independent and thus very flexible.”
Under the Lürssen brand, the entire newbuilding portfolio of the Yacht division will be continued unchanged by the Bremen-based Fr. Lürssen Werft together with the Lürssen-Kröger Werft in Schacht-Audorf. Likewise, all activities in the field of yacht refits and services at the Bremen and Hamburg locations will be managed from the Yacht division. Fr. Lürssen Werft as the umbrella company of the yacht division is managed by Peter Lürßen as Chairman, Justus Reinke, Lena Ströbele, Sebastian Rheineck and York Ilgner. According to the press release, both divisions with all their associated companies will remain part of the Lürssen Group, which will continue to be family-run.
On the other hand, Lürssen apparently intends to withdraw from the unprofitable business of ship maintenance and repair at its Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, which it acquired a few years ago. According to media reports, Peter Lürßen intends to discontinue this business. At the same time, the number of employees is to be reduced. There is speculation in the media that this could affect up to a fifth of the approximately 600 jobs at Blohm + Voss.
LH
