75 YEARS OF PASSION FOR SHIPBUILDING

Company anniversary of the Peene shipyard

Manuela Schwesig, Minister President of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, congratulates her

For three quarters of a century, Peene-Werker has been designing, manufacturing and repairing boats and ships with predominantly "grey" paintwork. Once founded by the Soviet military administration, the Lürßen shipbuilding family incorporated the shipyard into their Bremen shipyard group ten years ago. Today, the more than 320 employees build and repair mostly naval vessels under the umbrella of the NVL Group.

More than 600 boats and ships have been launched in Wolgast since its foundation on 20 June 1948. In addition to the construction of naval vessels - the core of the Peene shipyard to this day - various fishing and work vessels, larger container ships as well as research and special ships have left the Peene River for the Baltic Sea over the past 75 years. Today, the shipyard specialises in the new construction and extensive repair work of naval units of various classes and sizes - often in cooperation with its NVL sister shipyards.

The order backlog currently includes three aluminium customs boats with LNG propulsion - built on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Finance. In addition, the firing of the new Class 126 frigates for the German Navy will begin at the end of the year. Similar to the modular principle of the current corvette programme, the four aft ships of the 166-metre frigates will be manufactured in Wolgast and then shipped to the partner shipyard in Kiel pre-equipped for joining with the forecastle, before being finally equipped and commissioned at the Blohm+Voss NVL site in Hamburg. In addition to new construction, the repair, maintenance and overhaul of naval vessels primarily deployed in the Baltic Sea plays an important role.

This work requires constant modernisation measures: 15 million euros were recently invested in the roofing of the dry dock.
"The Peene shipyard has always had the reputation of being a solid shipbuilding location supported by passionate shipbuilders, and if a fellow Bremen resident hadn't beaten us to it, my cousin and I would probably have taken over the shipyard earlier," said Friedrich Lürßen, shareholder of the Lürssen Group, on the sidelines of the celebrations.

As one of the most important employers in Wolgast and the surrounding area, the Peene shipyard, together with regional suppliers, makes a significant contribution to local value creation. The shipyard is also a recognised training company that has received several awards from the Neubrandenburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Currently, 42 young trainees are undergoing their training at the Peene-Werft, while eight students are completing a dual study programme.