MWB Marine Services: Strategic Realignment with a Strong Partner

The engine experts at Bremerhaven's German Dry Docks AG (GDD) can step on the gas. MWB Marine Service GmbH starts work on 1 July. The antitrust authorities have given the go-ahead for the strategic realignment. With Zeppelin Power Systems GmbH & Co KG (ZPS) from Hamburg, the motor sector of the GDD Group has a strong partner at its side. At the Kaiserhafen site, the new company combines the tradition of MWB Motorenwerke Bremerhaven with answers to future challenges in international shipping.

With the MET Marine Service GmbH, GDD is consistently pursuing the course to optimize its own market position and to strengthen the Bremerhaven location. "We are increasingly moving in an international environment and competition where we will be on a solid footing with a broad product and service portfolio," emphasizes GDD Group CEO Guido Försterling.

The company wants to significantly expand the business activities in the area of repair and maintenance of marine engines. GDD therefore concentrates these tasks at MWB Marine Services GmbH. The previous GDD division specializes in manufacturer-independent maintenance and repair services for engines and generators as well as the sale of spare parts of certain engine and component manufacturers. In addition, the company can look back on a whole series of major repairs such as the replacement or modification of engines.

In the future, the new company MWB Marine Services GmbH will carry out work and services for other engine manufacturers and offer them on the international market. An expansion of the spare parts trade is also planned. This should be accompanied by a continuous expansion of the business. The traditional cogeneration plant business unit will remain on the market under the present brand name MWB Power.

ZPS and GDD have been cooperating very closely in the service for engines and drive systems from the ZPS portfolio for a long time, for example, during maintenance work on river cruise ships. Due to the growing demand in the shipping sector, among other things for exhaust gas purification systems and the conversion of engines for dual-fuel operation as well as the installation of ballast water purification systems, the commonalities between the two companies have expanded in the recent past.

The partnership with GDD in the new company is interesting for ZPS for strategic reasons. "The partnership with MWB Marine Services will enable Zeppelin to provide complex solutions for the repair and maintenance of engines and propulsion systems and to carry out re-engining projects directly in the docks of GDD," emphasizes Volker Poßögel, Managing Director of Zeppelin Power Systems.