New structure for optimal usage of market opportunities

ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AG (TKMS), headquartered in Hamburg, will restructure as of April 1. In a meeting of the Supervisory Board on March 7, it was decided that the naval shipbuilding and merchant shipbuilding

sectors of Blohm + Voss GmbH are to be divided into two legally separate, autonomous companies.

From April 2008, the naval sectors of Blohm + Voss GmbH, Hamburg, and Nordseewerke GmbH, Emden, will be brought together under one roof as TKMS Blohm + Voss Nordseewerke GmbH. The company will be headquartered in both Hamburg and Emden.

The merchant shipbuilding sector of Blohm + Voss GmbH will change its name to Blohm + Voss Shipyards GmbH, simultaneously taking over the company management of HDW-Gaarden GmbH, Kiel. Both companies will concentrate on the merchant shipbuilding business. The frigates 125 designated for Blohm + Voss will still continue to be built in Hamburg.

As part of these structural changes, the merchant shipbuilding and repair sectors at the Hamburg site will be strengthened and expanded. The same holds true for the Emden site for naval surface vessels.

Under the guidance of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AG as a holding, three companies will steer the operative business in the future:

- TKMS Blohm + Voss Nordseewerke GmbH, Hamburg and Emden, focusing on naval surface vessels,

- Howaldtswerke -Deutsche Werft GmbH, Kiel, focusing on submarine, and - Blohm + Voss Shipyards & Services GmbH, Hamburg/Kiel, focusing on merchant shipbuilding, repairs, offshore and components.