Shipyard pressure grows for Genting
GENTING Hong Kong, the parent company of Crystal Cruises, Star Cruises and Dream Cruises, is facing financial pressure in its MV Werften shipyards, with concerns operations are being threatened by an ongoing lack of orders.
A report in German newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine on Sat highlighted the crisis, and also confirmed Genting has dropped plans for the construction of six 2,000-passsenger Universal class vessels, the first of which had previously been slated for delivery by the end of next year.
Genting purchased the shipbuilding business five years ago as part of a global buying spree, at the time saying it urgently wanted to ensure it could expand its fleet to capitalise on the cruising boom.
The shipyards in Wismar, Bremerhaven, Warnemunde and Straslund collectively employ about 2,900 people.
They built Crystal’s four ultraluxury river cruise ships in 2016 & 2017.
In 2018, the facilities laid the keel for Dream Cruises’ Global Dream flagship, with a sister ship commenced a year later.
However the pandemic has seen these 9,000-pax vessels delayed, while Crystal Endeavor, the luxury expedition cruise ship, was also paused for a time but is now nearing completion and on track for delivery this year (CW 08 Jan).
The report claims without further orders in the pipeline the shipyards are “on the brink of collapse,” despite a €193 million bridging loan received from Germany’s Economic Stablization Fund in Oct.
“With the funds, MV Werften can continue to build the cruise ships Crystal Endeavor and Global Dream, but no further orders are in sight,” the newspaper said.
“It is likely that the group will be liquidated and that new owners will be sought for the locations... but bankruptcy cannot be ruled out despite all the financial aid.”
The uncertainty is compounded by a lack of communication from Genting, with their silence adding to the already strained relationships between offshoot Crystal and travel agents around the world, who have for months been unsuccessfully seeking refunds.
However officials in Germany have acknowledged the pandemic necessitates government intervention, with a regional Minister for Economics & Labour Harry Glawe saying “we will continue to work intensively together with the Federal Government and Genting to preserve the shipyard locations”.