Alan Lam reporting

After having been acquired by Genting Group, Lloyd Werft, the German shipbuilder, has embarked upon strengthening its management by adding Jarmo Laakso to its board.

This addition effectively means that Genting has now a management quartet for its four newly acquired shipyards in Germany. Other board members consist of Rüdiger Pallentin, Carsten J. Haake and Dirk Petersjohann. “Jarmo Laakso is ideally suited for this new constellation,” said Rüdiger Pallentin.

Trained in Finland, Jarmo Laakso is both a shipbuilding and mechanical engineer, “a combination rarely seen at a German yard,” stated the Group, “and thus particularly prized by Lloyd Werft.” He will have an office at Lloyd Werft and one at Wismar.

He joined Schichau-Seebeckwerft in 1995 and garnered early experience at Lloyd Werft from the construction of Costa Victoria and of Norwegian Sky before spending six years at Meyer Werft, where he was a project manager in the Royal Caribbean International newbuilding team. He then spent a few years at Arosa Flussschifffahrten GmbH in Rostock before returning to Meyer Werft in 2005 as construction supervision head of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

The appointment of Jarmo Laakso is, according to the Group, “designed to expand the newbuilding competence of Lloyd Werft”. The number of newbuildings ordered at Lloyd Werft by Genting has grown to ten, which is deemed to be a “particular challenges” for the builder. “Future challenges in Bremerhaven,” said the Group, “on the scale now presented by Genting also require corporate answers of a dimension which the yard has not had to confront in the past.”

Under Genting, the Lloyd Werft group, now with four shipyards, is quickly emerging as another major cruise ship builder in Europe. This certainly appears to be the aim of the new owner. But above all Genting wishes to have full control of its newbuilding programme, which is key to its massive expansion strategy.