Harmstorf Group
The Harmstorf Group was a shipyard group founded by Alnwick Harmstorf in Schleswig-Holstein in 1982 , which consisted primarily of the Schlichting shipyard , the Büsum shipyard , the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft and the German industrial plants in Berlin. In the shipyard crisis with missing orders, a rescue company was founded from the Harmstorf Group, of which only the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft survived.
Schlichting shipyard
The Schlichting shipyard in Travemünde, then a small shipyard, had to register a settlement in 1953. In the same year it was taken over by Alnwick Harmstorf as the first shipyard. The Schlichting shipyard was modernized and soon became one of the most modern shipyards in Germany. The shipyard area grew to almost 140,000 square meters. Almost all types of ships, including naval ships, were designed and manufactured using the most modern means. The launching was one of the special events in Travemünde. In 1977 the shipyard had around 800 employees and built ships up to 20,000 tdw. The oil crisis of 1972/1973 caused the tanker market to collapse. Soon after, the bulk carriers and general cargo ships were hit , prices fell because suddenly overcapacities were met with few orders. This also affected the shipyards because there were no orders for new ships. As a result of the shipyard crisis , the Schlichting shipyard was closed in 1986.
Büsumer shipyard
Büsumer Werft GmbH was founded in 1963 from the Büsumer shipyard W. & E. Sielaff, which at the time of conversion had hardly any orders and had 95 employees. Following the takeover, the shipyard received an order from the Harmstorf shipping company to build a modern coastal tanker. In the following years the shipyard was restructured, the project department, construction department, acquisition department and purchasing department were closed and integrated into the Schlichting shipyard, and production was modernized. 15 years later the shipyard had 380 employees and built ships up to 4,200 tdw. The shipyard crisis hit the Büsum shipyard in September 1986 and it was wound up just like the Schlichting shipyard.
Flensburg shipbuilding company
In 1973, Alnwick Harmstorf KG took over 26 percent of the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group and later increased the share to 52 percent. In 1982 it was converted into a GmbH and the shipyard was incorporated into the Harmstorf Group. As with the other shipyards, the structures were optimized from design to production. The slip was roofed over with a huge shipbuilding hall in order to enable weather-protected production. In the context of these modernizations, around 50 million DM were invested in the Flensburg shipyard alone, which allows for a fully rationalized production.
German industrial works
Deutsche Industrie-Werke was the fourth shipyard within the Harmstorf group. They emerged from the Heeres-Waffenfabrik founded in 1722 in Berlin-Spandau, which became the German industrial works around 1950. The inland shipping yard was built from 1958 and its shipbuilding activities initially focused exclusively on the inland shipping market. Inland freighters and tankers emerged, and rarely passenger ships. In the middle of 1960, a few Kümos were built. From 1969 the shipyard belonged to the Harmstorf Group. The building program was retained, but from time to time ships and sections were built under subcontracting from the Schlichting shipyard, including the hotel ships Spree Berlin and Kieler Sprotte for the Hotel Kemper in Berlin. In 1997 the construction of the new ship was stopped and the shipyard mainly dealt with repairs, conversions and modernizations.
Shipyard crisis and the end of the Harmstorf Group
From the end of 1974 the order books of the German shipyards plummeted from a good seven million GRT to well below a million GRT in just four years. The German shipyards have not recovered from this. Compared to many other shipyards, the Harmstorf Group suffered from the shipyard crisis only later, as ships were also built for their own shipping companies. But the closure of the stock corporation "Weser" in 1983 showed the seriousness of the situation. The bankruptcy of the Harmstorf Group in 1986 seemed inevitable. However, after the sale of industrial holdings, a rescue company was founded on September 29, 1986. Today's Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft emerged from this. A takeover by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft was discussed but not implemented. In 1990 the shipyard was taken over by the Lübeck shipowner Egon Oldendorff , who led the shipyard and the construction program from bulk and container ships to ferry and RoRo ships . In the meantime the first passenger ships have also been designed and built. The shipyard is fully booked with orders until 2013 [obsolete] , especially with RoRo ships ordered by shipping companies in Canada and Turkey .
Individual evidence
- ↑ History ( Memento of the original from September 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Flensburg shipbuilding company.
