Volkswerft (german: Volkswerft Stralsund GmbH) is a
shipyard in the Hanseatic city of
Stralsund on the
Strelasund
The Strelasund or Strela Sound is a sound or lagoon of the Baltic Sea which separates Rügen from the German mainland. It is crossed by a road and rail bridge called the Rügendamm in Stralsund. It runs northwest to southeast from a small shallow ...
. It is part of the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
Hegemann-group.
The Volkswerft was founded in 1948 as ''Ingenieurbau Ges.m.b.H.''. On April 25 the first trawler was delivered and on June 15, 1948 the ''
VEB Volkswerft Stralsund'' was registered.
From 1948 till 1953 the shipyard produced 196 ships, all of them to be used for
reparation payments to the Soviet Union.
In the following years, the Volkswerft produced trawlers for the Soviet and other fleets. In October 1957, the first ship built for a fleet not pertaining to the
Eastern Bloc was delivered to
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
. In 1973,
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...
saw the Volkswerft as number one in the production of trawlers worldwide.
After 1990, the Volkswerft was privatized two times, first as ''Volkswerft Stralsund GmbH'' becoming part of the
Vulkan
Vulkan is a low- overhead, cross-platform API, open standard for 3D graphics and computing. Vulkan targets high-performance real-time 3D graphics applications, such as video games and interactive media. Vulkan is intended to offer higher perfor ...
-Gruppe (
Bremen) in 1993. In 1998 it became part of the Maersk group, Maersk having paid 25 million
DM to the
Treuhand
The ("Trust agency"), colloquially referred to as , was an agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/ privatise East German enterprises, Volkseigene Betriebe (VEBs), prior to German reunification. C ...
.
The yard is completely modernized by now, including a large shipbuilding hall and a 230 m (now 275 m length) ship lift to launch the ships. Container ships (2,500 class) are produced for the Mærsk fleet. They have a size of 2,900-3,000 TEU. Supply vessels and cable-laying vessels are also produced.
In 2016, the yard was purchased by
Genting Hong Kong
Genting Hong Kong Limited ( zh, 雲頂香港有限公司) was a holding company that operated cruise and resort businesses. It was headquartered in (海洋中心), Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (). It was p ...
and folded into the newly formed
MV Werften
MV Werften is a Hong Kong–German shipbuilding company that operates three facilities in eastern Germany to construct cruise ships for parent company Genting Hong Kong.
In January 2022, MV Werften filed for bankruptcy, and an administrator ...
group with two other German shipbuilders.
References
{{Coord, 54, 18, 03, N, 13, 06, 27, E, region:DE-MV_type:landmark, display=title
Shipbuilding companies of Germany
Volkseigene Betriebe
Stralsund
Companies based in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Maersk
Manufacturing companies established in 1945
1945 establishments in Germany
Shipyards of Germany