Flensburg, 18 March 2020; As a result of the spread of Covid-19 in Europe, many countries have closed their borders and are recalling their citizens from abroad. This directly affects Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) and its subcontractors, suppliers as well as shipping company representatives at the yard. FSG also takes seriously its Corporate Social Responsibilities and duty to care for the health and wellbeing of its employees and their families. FSG will follow the recommendations of the German government to prevent the further spread of Covid-19.
For this reason, all operations and production will be temporarily suspended from Thursday, 19th March 2020. An application has already been made to the Federal Employment Agency extension of short-time work.
Alex Gregg-Smith, Managing Director of Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, explains: “We are taking these measures to provide the best possible protection for the people working at our shipyard. It is our aim to restart once the acute coronavirus threat has ended and to get operations back up and running again as quickly as possible. By taking this action now we believe that the interests of all parties are best protected”.
NIFS comment: FSG currently have orders for two Ro-Pax ferries. HONFLEUR is in fit-out for Brittany Ferries while Irish Ferries has an order for a ship to be delivered at the end of the year for its Dublin – Holyhead route. The yard shutdown will come as a blow to both operators whose orders are now sure to be delayed further.
