on 30 June 2014.

Rumors suggest Meyer Werft and the Finnish Government are signatures away from a deal to see STX Finland end up in the hands of the German shipbuilding company.

Meanwhile, further rumors, from multiple suppliers involved in the bidding process, claim that a Norwegian Cruise Line two-ship order with a 200,000-ton prototype ship will go to Turku. Norwegian has made it no secret they are very happy building ships with the German yard, which has certain size limitations due to being on a river.

If all goes to plan, Cruise Industry News understands Meyer will shortly announce news concerning future building slots in Papenburg going to Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.

German ship builder Meyer Werft and the Finnish Government are in the advanced stages of negotiations with STX Europe over the proposed acquisition of STX Finland, which operates the Turku shipyard.

The Ministry of Employment and the Economy of Finland said in a statement that the consortium has now reached meaningful progress on the main terms of the transaction.

"However, there are a still a number of open issues that need to be solved, including a number of discussions and agreements to be concluded with other stakeholders" the Ministry said.

The statement cited Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vapaavuori and Meyer Werft managing director Jan Meyer as jointly saying that the negotiations are continuing intensively.

"If we all work on it and create favourable conditions for the yard, we see a positive long-term future for the Turku yard and the whole maritime cluster in the region, which the yard has a symbiotic relationship with," the duo said.

In February 2013, the Turku shipyard was awarded a €31m subsidy as the shipyard suffered from a drop in order books, according to a report by AFP.

The loss of the OASIS #3 order was something of a wake-up call to the Finnish government, which then came under a lot of pressure to ensure the survival of the yard. If the Turku yard closes, a lot of the critical mass of the Finnish shipbuilding cluster will be gone.

Meyer Werft joins forces with STX Finland
marinelink.comMonday, August 04, 2014, 8:07 AM
File photo: courtesy Meyer Werft
photo: courtesy Meyer Werft
German cruise ship builder strengthens its yards.

MEYER WERFT joins forces with the STX Finland shipyard in Turku. Following weeks of negotiations the Finnish Government and MEYER WERFT signed a share purchase agreement with the current owner STX Europe. With its 70% stake MEYER WERFT takes the industrial leadership of the new company.

At present some 1,300 employees and a specialized supplier network are involved in the construction of the cruise ship Mein Schiff 4 for the German cruise operator TUI Cruises from Hamburg. TUI Cruises just announced to order another two ships of this class in Turku. STX Finland is a specialist in the construction of cruise ships and a yard that holds exceptional technological know-how.

As Dr. Jan Meyer, managing partner of MEYER WERFT, explained, " This acquisition will strengthen the yards in Papenburg, Turku and Rostock: With joining forces with Turku we can offer more flexibility to our customers. In addition both shipyards respect each other for their high level of professionalism and thus can learn a lot from each other in order to improve their working processes or to join forces on research & development. We are confident that in this way we can create a good opportunity for the Finnish maritime cluster to thrive and also hope to interest many young people to join us for building the future high-tech ships."

The acquisition is still subject to clearance by the antitrust authorities and banks. The plan is to rename the company STX Finland Oy to Meyer Turku Shipyard Oy.