The German Navy will be getting a new shipyard to improve its maintenance capacities following the signing of a contract for the purchase of the MV Werft yard in Rostock.
The German defense ministry hailed the purchase as a major step towards an improvement in the material readiness of the German Navy.
According to the defense ministry, which did not reveal financial details of the agreement, the contract was signed on July 7. Local reports on budget committee hearings indicated earlier that the selling price was around 87 million euros.
The defense ministry explained that the purchase will allow the navy to establish an additional operating facility, improve readiness and speed up maintenance.
With this move, the defense ministry wants to avoid long waiting times at the yard for its already small fleet of ships. The lack of maintenance capacities even led to navy officials warning that the situation could prevent Germany from honoring international commitments and having to call off ship deployments.
The location of the MV Werften yard in Rostock in the Baltic Sea is suitable for the navy, which already has a base nearby, which is home to the Braunschweig-class corvettes.
It should be noted that German submarine designer and builder thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tkMS) revealed last month that it is buying the shipyard location of the insolvent MV Werften in Wismar.
MV Werften filed for insolvency this year.
