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Joseph L. Meyer Werft, the German shipbuilder
that is a leading builder of cruise liners, and the Finnish government have made
progress in talks to jointly acquire the STX Finland shipyard in Turku from its
Korean owner, while rumored that Meyer is about to win an order for two very
large ships from Norwegian Cruise Line.
"The buyer consortium has reached a preliminary understanding with the Korean
seller about the principal terms of the acquisition. A number of questions,
however, still remain open and these will have to be solved, including
agreements with other stakeholders," Ministry of Employment and the Economy said
in a statement. The shipyard in currently owned by STX Offshore & Shipbuilding,
the South Korean company that put most of its overseas assets up for sale in
late 2012.
"It is our mutual objective to make such progress in the matter by the end of
next week so that further information could be provided then," the ministry
said. The Finnish government plans to take a minority stake in STX Finland,
which has a shipyard in Turku.
Norwegian Cruise Line is close to placing an order for two 200,000 gross ton
ships at Meyer Werft, which would be too large to be built at its yard in
Papenburg in Germany. However, they could be built at the shipyard in Turku,
which also built the first two 226,000 gross ton Oasis class ships of Royal
Caribbean International, the contemporary market unit of Royal Caribbean Cruises
Ltd (RCCL).
The German shipbuilder is also understood to be in talks for further two 150,000
gross ton ships for Star Cruises. |
