Blohm+Voss Shipyard changes owners

[Ulrich Rudofsky]

The legendary German shipyard of Blohm & Voss is to be under new ownership by the United Arab Emirates.

http://www.abendblatt.de/wirtschaft/art ... -Voss.html

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Ger ... oss-05873/

http://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/articl ... -Elbe.html

[hammy]

Well , the fighting mast on Bismark would make an excellent Minaret , and the AA control platform on top the ideal place for the ships Hodja to summon the faithful to prayer !

Allah akbah !

[RF]

Maybe, but remember that the fundamentalist warriors haven't yet taken over the UAE......

What would be of more significance is their acquisition of shipyard capacity within the EU, as under EU trade rules the outputs of the yard are still EU production, the UAE nicely gets around the EU tarrif costs and quota's for building ships operating under convenience flags.......

[hammy]

Oh , you are such an old cynic !

[Ulrich Rudofsky]

Actually, it is a very serious problem that has to do with technology control and transfer and the possible inability for a nation to build its own naval vessels without interference or the leaking of information. The USN it trying desperately to maintain at least a few US shipyards in order to preserve and maintain the highly skilled and irreplaceable labor force that has the know-how to build warships without dependence on other countries as far as possible. Even in time of "relative" peace on the high seas (except for some pirates), sea power is still very important and I would be in a panic, if any foreign nation took financial, technical or managerial control of a major US shipyard like Bath Iron Works and cripple our independence.

[hammy]

I wouldnt worry about it Ulrich , we have been doing this for years in the UK in many aspects of defence and what you would think are strategic necessities that should be wholly under your own national control .

Here in the UK it seems that the only thing that anyone in Government gives a "monkeys" about is money , and anything it seems is up for grabs if some private commercial company can be found to take it on .
Hence my mate up the road , who used to mend RAF Tornado fighters as an RAF fitter , now does the same thing on the same base for a private company , ( in all probability Pizza Hut AirPower ( Guatemala ) Ltd or some equally unlikely body) .
Just hope you dont have to go to war on a weekend , Hmm ? Mind you , the Corporate-wear is pretty snazzy , much better than all that dull old green .
All our Naval Constructors branch is now done by Private contractors , so is the Hydrographic Office , which used to do all the charts and the survey work all over the world .

The Mantra goes that PUBLIC ( Government ) EXPENDITURE IS BAD . COMMERCIAL EXPENDITURE IS GOOD .
Although quite why that is so is something that I dont feel has been satisfactorily explained to me down the years .

Cynically , It doesn't matter what fixed facility is transferred to a foreign owner , because they cant take it away with them , although they can pinch a lot of the moveables , and you can get it straight back again without paying a bean in compensation if the poo was ever to hit the fan .
In the UK we just sign an "Order in Council" , I expect you have some Presidential power to do something similar in the States .

And if some of your vital military personnel are "privatised" to civilian status , well , they are still on the reserve , so it is simply a case of lining them up on the Monday and giving them the glad tidings that they are now back in uniform , and here is a copy of the agreements you signed , and if you haven't got a sense of humour about it , then you shouldn't have joined , and a copy of the Mutiny Act is available from the Adjutant !

The problem comes when the new Private owners take a chainsaw to the former service organisation to "make efficiencies and cut costs" . The firestorm that follows usually means older highly skilled people take the money and run , and a lot of expertise is lost forever , and the new slimmed down organisation is bossed by slimy yes-men who dont give a toss about what the organisation was actually set up to do , only that it sounds good and makes money . Usually years of archives , test data , etc , are discarded to the nearest landfill , because there is no-one left who recognises the need to keep such stuff , or has the motivation to try to stop it happening . You get told , you see , that it "Isnt Company policy" or that you "Dont want to be seen as a Loose Cannon" or that "You aren't being a Team Player" .

And of course your main ( worst of all ) point , which is that you are opening the secrets to anyone who wants a peek in the chaos of all the change .

But hey , we are in the tale of the Emporer's New Clothes here , and woe betide anyone who says that actually , he is naked .

[RF]

I certainly am a cynic hammy but not old - at least not yet.

The surrender of UK strategic interests not just in shipyards but in our steel, coal, utilities and other manufacturing capability should be a matter of major concern. It undermines our true independence to other interests that benefit our politicians, bureaucrats and quangos, quite apart from the export of UK jobs. That is one reason why the EU is so damaging to the UK.

And you are wrong in saying that Government is only concerned with money. Maybe, but it is only a means to an end. Their concern is to stay in power, to stay in their priveleged positions, all at our expense.

[RF]

But hey , we are in the tale of the Emporer's New Clothes here , and woe betide anyone who says that actually , he is naked .

What a wonderful description of our political masters and quangocrats, the EU and the climate change propagandists.

[Ulrich Rudofsky]

The sale is in its final stages and will be signed this months. Whether the Arab financial wizards will survive for long is not certain either as far as I can see. Bremerhaven Lloyd-Werft is also up for sale.......
http://www.ftd.de/unternehmen/industrie ... 58601.html

[RF]

The acid test Ulrich is that the deal goes through. If so then finance should not be a problem.

[Ulrich Rudofsky]

I know nothing about economics, but the Arab and Chinese economies and politics don't look very stable to me even though they are in good shape at the present.