Nobiskrug is a

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

located on the

Eider River The Eider ( ; ; Latin: ''Egdor'' or ''Eidora'') is the longest river in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The river starts near Bordesholm and reaches the southwestern outskirts of Kiel on the shores of the Baltic Sea, but flows to the w ...

Rendsburg Rendsburg (, also ''Rensborg'', , also ''Rensborg'') is a town on the Eider (river), River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) of Rendsburg-Eckernfoerde, Rends ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, specialized in building innovative, custom-made luxury superyachts. In 2020 it celebrated its 115 years of operation.

History

Nobiskrug was founded in 1905 by Otto Storck. The company changed to a limited liability company (

GmbH (; ) is a type of Juridical person, legal entity in German-speaking countries. It is equivalent to a (Sàrl) in the Romandy, French-speaking region of Switzerland and to a (Sagl) in the Ticino, Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. It is a ...

), November 12, 1908, and a canal expansion work brought a steady stream of waterway construction vessels to the shipyard for repairs and refits. By the start of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the shipyard had built a total of 70 vessels, mainly pontoons,

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

s and

lighter A lighter is a portable device which uses mechanical or electrical means to create a controlled flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of flammable items, such as cigarettes, butane gas, fireworks, candles, or campfires. A lighter typic ...

s. During the war, the company built a number of

auxiliary ship An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense. Auxili ...

s for the

Kaiserliche Marine The adjective ''kaiserlich'' means "imperial" and was used in the German-speaking countries to refer to those institutions and establishments over which the ''Kaiser'' ("emperor") had immediate personal power of control. The term was used partic ...

and started building

minesweepers A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

. They also launched its first two cargo

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

s in 1917 for German owners. Germany's defeat in World War I temporarily halted the country's export shipbuilding industry, but the company switched production to deep-sea fishing steamers and later, again, cargo steamers. In 1930 the company scored a major coup with contracts for a series of three-mast

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

yachts. During the period from 1935 to 1939, the shipyard supplied the German Ministry of Finance with three customs cruisers, the Nettelbeck, the

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, and the Freiherr von Stein. Shortly before and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

and

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

placed orders with Nobiskrug for a range of auxiliary ships including several ocean-going

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

s and tankers. During the immediate post-war years, the company concentrated on ship conversions and repairs. From 1945 to 1955 advanced in building larger vessels. In 1958, the cargo ship MS Bleichen was launched, the ship would go on to become a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

in Hamburg. In 1963 the shipyard delivered the then highly sophisticated navy training ship

Deutschland Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 m ...

. One year later, Nobiskrug built its first ferry, the Prins Bertil. Four more ferries were built up until 1968. This period also saw the completion of a number of conventional freighters and asphalt tankers as well as heavy goods,

RoRo Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usi ...

vessels and

ferries A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

. The early 1980s saw the construction of the research vessel

Polarstern RV ''Polarstern'' (meaning pole star) is a German research icebreaker of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven, Germany. ''Polarstern'' was built by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel and Nobiskrug in ...

, and the diving support vessels Seabex One and Seaway Condor. In the mid-1980s the fortunes of the shipyard took a turn for the worse, leading ultimately to the verge of financial collapse in 1986. Under these difficult circumstances, the yard lengthened the ocean cruise liner Berlin (Ship, 1980) operated by

Peter Deilmann Cruises Peter Deilmann Cruises (German: Peter Deilmann Reederei GmbH & Co. KG) was a German cruise company which offered river cruises throughout Europe and several ocean cruises. It was headquartered in Neustadt in Holstein, Germany. History The fou ...

. This ship is known to German TV viewers as cruise line in the German version of

the Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Wilford Lloyd Baumes that originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1977, to May 24, 1986. In addition, three TV movies aired before the regular series pre ...

. The successful completion of this project was a sign of better things to come. Nobiskrug was acquired in 1987 by

Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (often abbreviated HDW) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Kiel. It is part of the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) group, owned by ThyssenKrupp. The Howaldtswerke shipyard was founded in Kiel i ...

and the shipyard was modernized into a compact shipyard, its maritime division specialising exclusively in repairs and conversions. Staffing levels were reduced dramatically, from more than 1,200 at the start of the 1980s to approximately 400. In 1997 the shipyard supplied the forward half of the passenger ship

MS Deutschland MS ''Deutschland'' (starting in 2015 also sailing as ''World Odyssey'' from September until April each year) is a cruise ship launched in 1998 and owned and operated by Peter Deilmann Cruises until 2015. She is decorated in the 1920s style as it c ...

and then began work on its first superyacht, the 303-foot (92m) mega-yacht Tatoosh, which it completed in the summer of 2000. Today Nobiskrug's focus is on engineering, construction, and refit of custom-built superyachts. In the past decade Nobiskrug has delivered some of the award-winning superyachts including Sycara V, Triple Seven, Sapphire, Mogambo, Dytan (project 783), Odessa II. In 2017 Nobiskrug launched the sail-assisted motoryacht Sailing Yacht ''A'', the largest private sailing yacht ever built. Measuring almost 143 m and a gross tonnage of about 12.600, Sailing Yacht A became one of the most impressive PYC superyachts in the world in terms of design and technology. Nobiskrug's latest delivery in 2020 is its first hybrid superyacht, 80-meter Artefact. Artefact's many environmentally-friendly features include diesel-electric variable-speed Azipod-propulsion, dynamic-positioning system, wastewater recycling system for re-use as technical water, batteries and solar panels. At 2.999 GT, Artefact is the biggest-volume 80-meter superyacht in the world. Currently there are several yacht projects under construction like the 77m Black Shark or the 62m long superyacht with the Espen Oeino design. This year the Rendsburg shipyard Nobiskrug is celebrating 115 years of shipbuilding since its foundation in 1905. In 2021 the company filed for insolvency - which according to the German law allows business restructuring. The shipyard's insolvency is partially a result of the

Coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In July 2021, North German shipbuilding company

Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft is a German shipbuilding company located in Flensburg. The company trades as ''Flensburger'' and is commonly abbreviated ''FSG''. History ''Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft'' was founded in 1872 by a group of ...

was announced as the new owner of Nobiskrug. In 2024 Nobiskrug became

insolvent In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet in ...

. https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schleswig-holstein/Kommentar-zu-FSG-Nobiskrug-Werften-Schiffbau-in-SH-hat-Zukunft,kommentarfsg102.html

Yachts

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Shipbuilding companies of Germany Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1905 Industry in Schleswig-Holstein Kiel Canal Shipyards of Germany 1905 establishments in Germany