“The aim is to improve the national industrial structure as well as to strengthen efficiency and sustainability,” says a joint communication from Lürssen and GNYK. The planned merger follows “the demands of the public client to see high-performance industrial structures in nationally reliable availability and guaranteeing efficient cost structures.” This includes, “not only the construction of technologically highly innovative naval ships but also their functional maintenance over the entire life cycle.”

The merger of the two shipyards, which Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems could also join in the future, is directly related to the construction of the Multipurpose Combat Ship 180 (MKS) and the ruling class’ goal of building a powerful navy. “A merger in naval shipbuilding” was “sensible, if it would strengthen the industry and thus secure the key technology in Germany,” Friedrich stated on the record. “The know-how in German shipbuilding, to which naval shipbuilding makes an important contribution,” had to be “secured.”