en.Wedoany.com Reported - Meyer Werft announced via its official website that, due to reasons related to organizational restructuring, Freytag has submitted documents to the shipyard's Supervisory Board, applying to resign from his core management position (Managing Director) at Meyer Werft. The resignation will take effect on April 30, 2026.
This marks another significant personnel adjustment announced by Meyer Werft since the end of 2025.
In December 2025, Meyer Werft announced the appointment of André Walter as the new Chief Executive Officer, with his tenure officially commencing on July 1, 2026. André Walter will succeed the current CEO, Bernd Eikens, who voluntarily offered to step down as planned to hand over company management to his successor.
In January 2026, Meyer Werft announced the appointment of Jörg Heidelberg as the new Chief Operating Officer.
It is understood that Meyer Werft is a century-old shipyard that has weathered many storms. The shipyard's development in recent years has not been smooth, even teetering on the brink of bankruptcy at one point: the shipyard found itself in the predicament of "having orders but no money to build" due to insufficient capital reserves to pre-finance shipbuilding costs. It was only after intervention from the German federal government and the government of Lower Saxony, where the shipyard is located, that the crisis was averted.
Currently, Meyer Werft has transitioned from private ownership to a state-owned enterprise. The German federal government and the government of Lower Saxony jointly invested 400 million euros to acquire an 80.8% stake in Meyer Werft. The ownership share held by the shipyard's original owners, the Meyer family, has been reduced to approximately 20%, with the right to repurchase shares before 2028. This move was aimed at helping Meyer Werft avoid bankruptcy.
In 2026, Meyer Werft is set to finalize a major order for luxury cruise ships worth at least 10 billion euros. This order will ensure the shipyard's production capacity operates at full load for the next 10 years. According to a special guarantee program recently introduced by the German federal government for domestic shipbuilders, Meyer Werft's super-sized order is expected to apply for additional guarantees from the German government.
Information shows that Meyer Werft is part of the German Meyer Group and is primarily renowned for building cruise ships. Its history dates back to 1795, and to date, it has built and delivered nearly 60 luxury cruise ships. In 2018, it delivered the world's first cruise ship equipped with a low-emission liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion system. In 2023, Meyer Werft officially entered the offshore wind market by undertaking the steel structures for four offshore converter platforms.
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