MSC explores takeover of German cruise-ship builder Meyer Werft

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is in talks to acquire the roughly 80% stake in German cruise-ship builder Meyer Werft GmbH held by the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported on September 20.

The discussions are ongoing and other suitors could still emerge, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. No final decision has been made and the talks could still fall apart, they said. A potential sale would comprise the company’s shipyards in Papenburg near the Dutch border and the port of Rostock on the Baltic Sea.

The 80.73% stake was acquired by the German federal government and the Lower Saxony state government for €400 million ($459-460 million) as part of a financial restructuring effort in 2024, which also included credit guarantees of €2.6 billion designed to carry operations over until at least 2028 and delivery of existing cruise ship orders. Meyer Werft ran into financial trouble during the Covid-19 pandemic, when supply chain disruptions led to delayed ship deliveries and banks began questioning its creditworthiness, while the company was also pre-financing construction and not receiving payments until delivery of the $1 billion-plus cruise ships.

Government officials do not wish to sell at a loss to their combined investment, according to two of the sources, and would likely also seek guarantees for employment and operations, given that the shipyards in Papenburg and Rostock are large regional employers. More than 3,200 people work directly at the Papenburg shipyard, while Meyer Werft says more than 20,000 jobs throughout the region are connected to its operations. The Meyer family, which surrendered its management roles during the 2024 reorganisation, retains 20% ownership and has a first right of refusal to repurchase the government stakes.

A sale would return control of the more than 230-year-old shipyard to private hands. Meyer Werft’s current customers include MSC Cruises, Carnival Corporation and Disney Cruise Line, with Carnival Festivale among the ships presently under construction in Papenburg and the grand block for Disney’s newest ship recently floated for delivery in late 2027. MSC and Meyer Werft had separately signed a deal for new ships in 2025 that has yet to be finalised. Royal Caribbean’s Icon-class ships are built by the separate Meyer Turku yard in Finland, which is not part of the reported discussions.

Neither MSC nor Meyer Werft has issued formal confirmation of the negotiations. If completed, the deal would mark a significant expansion of MSC’s industrial footprint, extending its reach from shipping and cruise operations into shipbuilding itself, and would represent one of the most significant consolidations in the cruise shipbuilding sector in recent years.