seatec - Finnish marine technology review 2/2015 | Page 9

“ We saw people that were passionate and professional about shipbuilding. The Turku shipyard is now thriving under 100% German ownership. On May 6, Meyer Werft purchased the remaining 30 % of the shipyard from the State of Finland, making the German family company the sole owner of the venerable shipyard that has given the world such industry icons as Oasis and Allure of the Seas. W hen Meyer Werft and the Finn- “This was our first major purchase rather than later,” Meyer says, adding that ish State acquired Turku shipyard outside of Germany, so we wanted to think it’s still not all sunshine and smooth sailing from STX Europe in September 2014, it things through very well.” However, in just from here on out: was understood that the State would only a manner of months the Germans became stick around for the transition period – per- convinced that the Turku shipyard does haps a couple of years. Jan Meyer, Chief have a solid future – and made their move Executive Officer of Meyer Turku, says that to acquire total ownership. the company wanted to be extra cautious throughout the process: “The normal business risks still remain.” DOUBLE VISION “Since there were no good reasons Together, the Meyer Werft shipyards at against it, we decided to do it sooner Papenburg and Turku form a “dynamic seatec 2/2015 7