Lloyd Werft Shipyard files for bankruptcy

German shipyard, Lloyd Werft has filed for bankruptcy. The filing, which is tied to the Genting Group that owns Lloyd Werft and MV Werften, will impact more than 300 employees and trainees that are currently employed by the yard.

The Genting Group has warned of further defaults due to the insolvency of its German shipbuilding subsidiary. The company “considers that it has exhausted all reasonable efforts” to come to a deal with counterparties under current financing arrangements, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

German media outlets reported there have been potential buyers for Lloyd Werft for some time. Bremerhaven steel construction company Rönner has already expressed an interest, according to reports.

The local district court has appointed Hamburg-based lawyer Per Hendrik Heerma as insolvency administrator for the Lloyd shipyard, which was founded in 1857.

The cruise division of Genting has been in financial difficulty as a result of the pandemic. The financing of the €1.5bn cruise ship project at MV Werften, Global Dream, which is 75% complete, is now no longer guaranteed. MV Werften also filed for bankruptcy on the January 10th, threatening the jobs of almost 2,000 employees.

Lloyd Werft completed the build of the 139m superyacht Solaris in 2021. She was the largest superyacht to have been launched last year and is currently owned by Russian oil and gas tycoon, Roman Abramovich.