Settles in Wismar: the laboratory outfitter Eppendorf
Bild: Eppendorf
Things looked pretty bleak after the bankruptcy of MV Werften. Slowly but there are some good prospects for the future. In the maritime sector, but also with an investor from the life sciences sector.
AAt the beginning of January things looked very bleak for the locations of the MV Werften Group. The poker game between the Asian owner Genting and the German state as a potential financier ended in the insolvency of the shipyards. In the meantime, it has become apparent that the region on the Baltic Sea coast has the opportunity to attract investors from completely different sectors. On Friday, laboratory outfitter Eppendorf announced that it would in future be manufacturing high-tech plastic products in the MV Werften Group’s finished module plant. Where the cabins for cruise ships were previously built in series, Eppendorf will in future manufacture pipette tips, reaction vessels and microtiter plates, such as those required for pharmaceutical research.
For Eppendorf, the location has the advantage that the desired expansion can progress quickly, explained co-CEO Peter Fruhstorfer in an interview with the FAZ: “We are at the limit with our capacities in the plastics plant in Oldenburg and have to expand, above all in order to be able to to be able to serve the European market.” In Wismar, existing halls can be used, the infrastructure is excellent, the proximity to both the Eppendorf headquarters in Hamburg and the plant in Oldenburg, Holstein, is helpful, and the necessary staff will also be found. Fruhstorfer promised that the almost 100 employees in the finished module production at MV Werften would not be guaranteed a job, but could apply and be retrained. One wants to employ several hundred people in Wismar in the medium term.