{"id":48484,"date":"2025-09-15T15:20:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/?p=48475"},"modified":"2025-09-29T20:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T18:46:07","slug":"luerssen-sells-naval-shipbuilding-to-rheinmetall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/luerssen-verkauft-marineschiffbau-an-rheinmetall\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u00fcrssen sells naval shipbuilding to Rheinmetall"},"content":{"rendered":"

In future, the L\u00fcrssen Group will concentrate exclusively on the construction of mega yachts<\/strong><\/p>\n

It had already been an issue on the coast for weeks. It is therefore not surprising that this decision has been made. The timing on a Monday morning in September 2025 is also not necessarily sensational, as the market for naval shipbuilding is currently very dynamic and urgent. Negotiations have been going on since August. The pressure to become more powerful industrially in Germany has existed for three years due to the explosive security policy situation. Whether the culture of a D\u00fcsseldorf-based company focussing on a land-based portfolio can be reconciled with the way of thinking on the coast is not just an arabesque. The well-known fact that the succession issue of the L\u00fcrssen families played a not insignificant role in the spin-off is actually gossip, but a long-awaited consequence.<\/p>\n

What actually happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Corvette<\/a>
Corvette Cologne under construction 2023, Photo: Daniel Angres<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2021, Fr. L\u00fcrssen Werft GmbH & Co. KG, based in Bremen Vegesack, separated from the Defence division and founded NVL B.V. & Co. KG, initially in the same building in Vegesack. Since then, NVL has owned Blohm+Voss in Hamburg, the Peene shipyard in Wolgast, the Neue Jadewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven and the Norderwerft shipyard in Hamburg as well as other foreign locations in Australia, Bulgaria and Croatia. NVL has immense potential in naval shipbuilding; with the exception of submarines, it can repair and build pretty much anything that the navy and authorities want and that is in demand abroad. As a repair yard owner, NVL is an important partner of the German Navy. With a current order volume of over 7 billion euros, corvettes, fuel supply vessels and fleet service boats are being built, a design for new tenders is in the drawer and the joint venture with Kraken Technology Group in the UK is looking to a new weapons and reconnaissance future. Whether Damen Shipyards Group will remain in the running as a subcontractor for the Class 126 frigate for the German Navy - and whether it will be built at all - is an exciting prospect in the near future.<\/p>\n

Sale of the division and retention of expertise<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the company announced today, Rheinmetall plans to take over all NVL sites and employees and to integrate and further develop them, together with their current management, as a separate division within the Rheinmetall Group. This cannot be otherwise, as Rheinmetall has no shipbuilders or engineers with a maritime focus in its ranks, not to mention the skilled labour. The sale is still subject to approval by the competition authorities. This consolidation is commercially necessary and timely in terms of security policy. Friedrich L\u00fcr\u00dfen, Managing Partner, commented: \"We believe that consolidation within the defence industry is necessary and sensible, particularly in view of the intensified threat situation. This is the only way to ensure our country's ability to defend itself quickly. With the sale of NVL to Rheinmetall, we are now creating the conditions for a powerful defence champion with broad-based systems expertise. We are delighted to have found in Rheinmetall a trustworthy and strong partner who can secure a successful future for NVL and its employees.\" His cousin Peter L\u00fcr\u00dfen, also Managing Partner of L\u00fcrssen Maritime Beteiligungen GmbH & Co KG, adds: \"The talks in recent weeks have shown that the chemistry between our companies is right and that we have similar values. It is important to us to place our marine division, our technological expertise and, above all, the approximately 2,100 employees of NVL in good and reliable hands.\" This is not only a political responsibility, but also a commercial and entrepreneurial necessity: the consolidation of legacy assets is urgently required, as the various shipyard locations of the NVL Group are differently equipped for a different security policy situation in the future. You also need a large, good investor to secure the investments of the future.<\/p>\n

Naval shipbuilding becomes more complex<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Construction<\/a>
Construction of the MBV 707 fuel supply vessel at the Neptun shipyard in Rostock in 2024 Photo: hsc<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the past, shipyards built warships and bought weapons and systems for them, installed them and built on them. The shipyard set the pace and placed the order, the others were just the suppliers. Things are different today: you have to think systemically, right from the first weld seam. The complexity of command and control and weapon systems has changed considerably and networking and interconnection are the guiding principles. Added to this are unmanned and autonomous units in the air, on the water and underwater. The integration of weapon systems sets the pace and unfortunately also the completion dates, as can be seen in the example of the Class 130 corvettes - and not only there and not only at NVL. Rheinmetall's naval division, which is now to be established, is coming up against a company that is currently the most important supplier of defence technology and has hardly made a maritime appearance to date, apart from the development of simulators for the navy and ammunition. This is one of the many synergetic opportunities to dovetail expertise in weapons and ammunition systems with naval shipbuilding. In addition, NVL has many properties and industrial sites with already established production factors from which Rheinmetall can benefit. It is conceivable that vehicles could also be manufactured in an unused shipyard hall.<\/p>\n

Takeover as early as 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Shipyard<\/a>
Shipyard employees present commemorative plaque for the keel laying of the new fleet service boats in Wolgast in 2024. photo: hsc<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two companies are aiming to complete the takeover by the beginning of 2026. No information about the purchase price was released to the outside world; the parties have agreed not to disclose it. \"Rheinmetall will be a relevant player on land, at sea, in the air and in space,\" explained CEO Armin Papperger. Rheinmetall is thus developing into a \"cross-domain systems house\". Rheinmetall wants to meet the massively increasing requirements of the naval forces and the rising budgets for procurement \"with high-performance system solutions\" - such as \"naval missiles and launchers, main and secondary guns for the navy, missile defence, sensors and other electronics\", said Papperger. But the takeover also needs to be financed, and Rheinmetall is negotiating with investors including One Equity and Mutares. This was reported by the Handelsblatt.<\/p>\n

L\u00fcrssen now \"only\" builds yachts<\/strong><\/p>\n

In future, the L\u00fcrssen Group will concentrate exclusively on the construction and repair of mega yachts. Until now, as a specialist shipbuilder, the company has been good at providing technological support to each other in a crossover technology between its Defence and Yacht expertise. A mega yacht is also a specialised ship and the customers, whether naval or billionaire, have special requirements and are demanding. Both want the best and the latest. It remains to be seen how this cross-fertilisation will work out.<\/p>\n

National champion?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This does not answer the question that has been discussed for years as to whether Germany will now have a leading national naval shipbuilder like France, Spain or Italy. There are still important shipbuilders and high-tech shipyards with a future on the Kiel Fjord and the Lower Weser, which are taking note of today with suspicion, but also calmly. Competition still stimulates business. TKMS also needs an investor, but Rheinmetall is unlikely to be one - this opportunity was missed by the last government. We will soon find out who comes into question - it remains exciting.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Die Unternehmensgruppe L\u00fcrssen konzentriert sich k\u00fcnftig ausschlie\u00dflich auf den Bau von Megayachten An der K\u00fcste war es bereits seit Wochen ein Thema. Es ist also nicht \u00fcberraschend, dass es zu dieser Entscheidung gekommen ist. Auch der Zeitpunkt ist an einem Montagmorgen im September 2025 nicht unbedingt sensationell, denn der Markt f\u00fcr den Marineschiffbau ist derzeit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":48493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"3high","footnotes":""},"categories":[49,486,42,50],"tags":[5262,8368,10560,344,4734,2100,10561,2101,281,7239,231,7425,4676],"class_list":["post-48484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-schiffsbau-news","category-headlines","category-news","category-sicherheitspolitik-news","tag-blohm-und-voss","tag-hamburger-norderwerft","tag-jade-werft","tag-luerssen","tag-megayachten","tag-norderwerft","tag-pappberger","tag-peene-werft","tag-rheinmetall","tag-tim-wagner","tag-tkms","tag-unternehmensgruppe-luerssen","tag-wolgast"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48910,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48484\/revisions\/48910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}