Meyer Werft, a century-old European shipyard, was previously in deep financial trouble. After being rescued by the German government, the shipyard delivered Disney’s luxury cruise ship ahead of schedule and its production and operations successfully returned to normal.
On October 24, German shipyard MEYER WERFT announced that it had delivered the luxury cruise ship “Disney Treasure” to Disney Cruise Line. The cruise ship was completed ahead of schedule and will officially set sail in December.
“Disney Treasure” features 1,240 staterooms with a capacity of 4,000 passengers and a gross tonnage of approximately 144,000. Disney Treasure is the second Wish-class cruise ship built by Meyer Werft for Disney Cruise Line. On March 20, 2024, the keel of the third Wish-class cruise ship, Disney Destiny, was laid at the MEYER WERFT and is expected to be delivered in 2025. Like the sister ship Disney Wish, which was delivered in 2022, all three cruise ships are powered by LNG.
“Disney Treasure” is the latest luxury cruise ship to join the Disney fleet and the fifth Disney cruise ship built by MEYER WERFT.
Meyer Werft has a long history of cooperation with Disney Cruise Line. Meyer Werft delivered the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy cruise ships to Disney Cruise Line as early as 2010 and 2012. The Disney Wish, which was delivered in 2022, is Disney Cruise Line’s first new cruise ship and the first large LNG-powered cruise ship in ten years. It started its maiden voyage on July 14, 2022.
In August this year, Meyer Werft announced that it had received another order for four luxury cruise ships from Disney Cruise Line, which became the “highest value order in history” of Meyer Werft. These new ships will join the Disney fleet between 2027 and 2031. Including the latest order, Meyer Werft has undertaken a total of 8 luxury cruise ship construction contracts for Disney Cruise Line.
Despite a relatively good orderbook, Meyer Werft needs funds to pay its employees by September 15 to avoid bankruptcy. In addition, in order to finance the construction of new ships, Meyer Werft will have to raise more than 2.7bn euros ($2.96bn) by the end of 2027.
It is understood that sufficient orders are one of the main reasons for Meyer Werft’s shortage of funds. Normally, cruise ship owners only pay 20% of the advance payment when ordering a new ship, and the remaining 80% of the shipbuilding costs are settled when the ship is delivered, which means that the shipyard must hold sufficient funds to advance the shipbuilding costs. In addition, some new shipbuilding contracts of Meyer Werft were signed before the COVID-19 pandemic, and energy and material prices have risen sharply since then.
As one of the important local enterprises, Meyer Werft has more than 3,000 employees in the Papenburg area (where the Meyer Werft headquarters is located), and another 18,000 jobs in the region are directly or indirectly dependent on the shipyard. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck clearly stated: “Meyer Werft is one of the largest and most modern shipyards in the world and is of great significance to the German shipbuilding industry.”
In order to save Meyer Werft, the German government proposed a rescue plan in September. The German federal government and the Lower Saxony state government, where Meyer Werft is located, jointly invested 400 million euros to acquire 80.8% of the shares of Meyer Werft, with the federal government and state government each investing approximately 200 million euros. In addition, Meyer Werft will also receive a loan guarantee worth 2 billion euros.
This also means that after the equity transaction is completed, Meyer Werft will become a German state-controlled enterprise. However, it is said that the validity period of the government guarantee is 2027, and the Meyer family has the right to repurchase shares before 2028.
Subsequently, Meyer Werft announced that it had reached all necessary agreements with the government and banks and successfully survived the bankruptcy crisis.
As of now, Meyer Shipyard’s order book includes 10 cruise ships, 1 research vessel and 4 offshore conversion platform contracts, with a total value of 11 billion euros, and its delivery schedule has been scheduled until 2031.