The Strela Shiprepair Yard, based in Stralsund, was founded just over a year ago. Now, with 40 ships repaired, it can draw a positive balance.
Twelve months after the start of business operations, the Strela Shiprepair Yard in Stralsund, which was founded in 2022, is reporting positive results. Within a year, the number of employees has more than doubled from the initial 20 to the current 45 and the order volume has grown from the originally planned 12 ships to be repaired to 40 units.
“The strong demand for repair and maintenance services in our first year was challenging, but we coped well,” summarizes Jan Tebbe-Simmendinger, one of three Managing Directors of Strela Shiprepair. The manager counts the fact that “the majority of our team is made up of experienced shipbuilders from the traditional shipyard location” as one of the company’s guarantees of success. Strela Shiprepair is one of the companies that have settled in the new Volkswerft Stralsund Maritime Industrial and Commercial Park.
Strela has several berths
Strela Shiprepair was also able to cope with the rapidly growing volume of orders because the company has a quay with several berths and a modern ship lift (Syncrolift) with a wide displacement area.
The lift can be used to dock ships up to 260 m in length. The largest ship drydocked last year was approx. 140 m long. “This shipyard system enabled us to work on seven ships at the same time in August, for example, on the slipway and at the shipyard quay,” emphasizes Jan Tebbe-Simmendinger. Thanks to its ship repair capacities, Strela Shiprepair is now one of the largest shipyards in this sector on the German coast. Around 90% of all ships scheduled for 2023 were docked, including a number of coasters as well as special-purpose and passenger ships. The repair and maintenance orders mainly involve work in the steel sector, mechanical engineering and propeller and shaft systems.
Proximity to offshore wind farms pays off
The first workboats were also added in the last quarter of the year. The crew transfer vessels (CTV) are used to transport people to the offshore wind farms off the coast of Rügen. Managing Director Tebbe-Simmendinger sees a growing demand in the special offshore sector.
“Stralsund’s proximity to the offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea means short distances combined with a comprehensive service for shipowners.” The company responded to this trend last year with the formation of the specialized company division “Strela Workboats”. The “Harbor & Voyage Repairs” department was also established in order to be able to react flexibly to requirements outside the Stralsund site. Teams of up to ten technicians travel to ships in mainly northern European ports and carry out repair and maintenance work on site.
Positive outlook for 2024
Managing Director Tebbe-Simmendinger expects the Strela Shiprepair shipyard to achieve a similarly good sales volume in its second year as in 2023. “We have adapted our operations accordingly and the incoming orders since the start of the new year confirm this development.” The shipyard is interested in further mechanical engineers and project managers with experience in the repair sector in order to cope with the diverse tasks and achieve future economic growth.
About the shipyard
Strela Shiprepair GmbH was founded in April 2022 and started operations at the beginning of 2023. The company is located on the site of the former Volkswerft shipyard in Stralsund, now the Volkswerft Maritime Industrial and Commercial Park. The repair yard maintains and repairs a wide variety of ship types, including coasters, special-purpose and passenger ships and workboats. Among other things, the company has a ship lift, powerful crane and shipyard technology and a 720 m long shipyard quay with a crane capacity of over 100 tons. Strela Shiprepair currently employs 45 people.
