Status: 23.10.2021 11:44 a.m.
On the way to the North Sea, the “AIDAcosma” has already covered most of the route. The new cruise ship from Meyer Werft had left the shipyard port in Papenburg during the night.
So far everything has gone smoothly, said a shipyard spokesman in the morning. “It’s even going a little faster than planned. The water level is high, the wind has died down.” In the morning, the 337-meter-long luxury liner had almost reached the Ems barrage near Gandersum, which it should now pass a little earlier than planned. According to the schedule, the “AIDAcosma” should reach Emden in the afternoon. The first destination is Eemshaven in the Netherlands.
Start in the night at the dock lock
The starting point of the journey, which is around 40 kilometers long, was the dock lock at Meyer Werft in Papenburg at night. As always with the Ems overpass, the “AIDAcosma” is also being towed backwards because it can be maneuvered better that way. The shipyard actually wanted to bring the new cruise ship to the North Sea on Friday night. Given the In stormy weather, the plan was eventually changed.
Tall cruise ship, narrow Ems
As early as Wednesday, when the storm was announced, the Waterways and Shipping Office assumed that the original schedule would be postponed due to the weather. In the case of a flyover with gusts of wind, there would have been the risk that the wind would have carried the ship away from its route across the Ems, which had been planned down to the last centimeter. On the one hand, the “AIDAcosma” is more than 300 meters long and 20 decks high and offers the storm a lot of attack surface. On the other hand, the Ems is relatively narrow, so that there is not much space left to counteract.
Cruise crisis: job losses
The pandemic has hit the cruise industry. New ships are hardly needed, the Meyer Werft wants to save 1.2 billion euros according to its own information. One thing is already certain: 450 of the 3,900 jobs are to be cut at Meyer Werft and its subsidiaries.
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Job cuts at the expense of the permanent workforce?
The works council chairman Nico Bloem and the union IG Metall fear that the positions in the permanent workforce will be lost. Many employees are already employed by subcontractors at Meyer Werft. This is also confirmed by Daniela Reim from the advice center for mobile workers in Oldenburg.
Shipyard must disclose third-party contracts
For a long time, the chairmen of the works council and the trade unions have therefore been demanding lists that provide information on employment relationships. They were now successful with that. The labor court in Lingen has decided that the shipyard must present the contracts with the external companies. In addition, the company must provide precise information about how many contract workers are employed, how long their assignment lasts and in which areas they are active. The company management has not yet commented on this.
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