STX Turku Talks ‘Moving to Next Phase’

Finland’s Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vapaavuori has travelled to South Korea where he will discuss the possible sale of Turku yard to German shipbuilder Meyer Werft.

During the visit, Mr. Vapaavuori will meet with both STX representatives and South Korean Trade and Industry Minister Song Jick-Yoon.

The minister expects that negotiations for the purchase of the STX Turku shipyard should move into the next phase within a matter of weeks, reported YLE.

“The first phase is about our industrial partner, Meyer Werft, getting the technical data about the Turku yard’s operations in order to evaluate whether or not it can be a viable business operation. This is an essential condition to opening actual negotiations. And, a pledge was made to now speed up this process,” said Vapaavuori.

STX creditor banks have made it clear that the sale of the yard should be completed as early as June.

The time is running out for Turku yard. With a cruise liner scheduled to be completed by the end of May, the shipyard will be left with only one vessel on the orderbook.

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World Maritime News Staff, May 14, 2014, Image: panoramio