Completion of the GORCH FOCK in late summer

GORCH-FOCK maintenance impaired by the corona pandemic

Corona-related staff shortages and considerable disruptions in the supply chains will result in the GORCH FOCK being handed over to the German Navy in late summer this year. Lürssen Werft informed the client of this this week. The postponement has no effect on the agreed budget.

The Gorch Fock is already afloat again

"Starting with the second corona wave at the beginning of the year and currently intensified by the third wave, we are experiencing a considerable shortage of personnel at numerous and crucial interfaces, which we will no longer be able to compensate for by the planned delivery date of 31 May 2021," said Tim Wagner, Managing Director of Fr. "COVID-19-related staff shortages in all companies involved in the project and supply chains of individual suppliers that have also been extensively affected by the pandemic have presented us with the enormously difficult but unavoidable decision of having to postpone the handover of the GORCH FOCK planned for the end of May until late summer this year. We have already informed our customer of this. The additional costs incurred as a result of the postponement will not be borne by the customer. As the responsible contractor, we will assume the financial consequences."

Training on the training mast

The Bremen-based family business Lürssen took over the refit of the training sailing ship in October 2019, launched the barque in March of this year and moved it to Lemwerder for further final outfitting. This means that three of the four project milestones were successfully achieved by the agreed deadline. The Lürssen shipyard expressed its disappointment that the schedule had to be changed again due to the circumstances. With today's logistics processes, a failure in the supply chain always results in a domino effect. The company will continue to do everything in its power to balance the current circumstances in the best possible way and will continue to work at full speed on the completion of the GORCH FOCK. The shipyard did not give a specific delivery date.

Photos: German Navy/www.bundeswehr.de