RoRo keel laying marks milestone for FSG

The recent keel laying of a RoRo vessel at Germany’s Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) marks the start of construction of the first order won by the yard since its 2020 restructuring.

The contract, which has a total value of EUR 140 million and includes an option for a second vessel, was placed by IVP Ship Invest, a company owned by Lars Windhorst, founder of Tennor Holding, which now owns the shipyard. The 210m-long freight-only RoRo ship is due for delivery in April 2022 and has a capacity of about 4,000 lane metres.

Commenting at the keel-laying ceremony, FSG chief executive, Philipp Maracke, said: “For FSG, today’s keel laying marks an important milestone, as this is the first order after restructuring and relaunching the shipyard in September 2020. The shipbuilding project is also significant for our 380 employees, who are now back to doing what they do best: building highly efficient ships.” Maracke noted that the RoRo vessel is of a type developed and already built by FSG a number of times. “We are very familiar with its construction,” he said. “That makes it extraordinarily easy for the shipyard to ramp up.”

Although the shipyard has focused on commercial shipbuilding recently, it also plans to focus again on naval shipbuilding, both for the German Navy and in an international context. “To this end, we can build on earlier projects,” Maracke said, “as FSG continues to have a good reputation as a naval shipyard, even though we focused on merchant ships in recent years.”