Former type GmbH Defunct 2009 Headquarters Bremerhaven, Germany Founded 1950 | Industry Shipbuilding Number of employees ~380 Founder Ferdinand Schichau Ceased operations 2009 | |
 | ||
Key people Karl-Heinz Jahncke, CEO Products Ferries
RoRo ships
RoPax ships
Container ships | ||
Schichau Seebeckwerft (often abbreviated SSW) was a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Bremerhaven. The name comes from the 1988 merger of Schichau with Seebeckwerft.
Contents
History
The original company Schichau was founded in 1837 by Ferdinand Schichau in Elbing (Elbląg) as F. Schichau. It started by manufacturing steam engines and heavy equipment, later locomotives. In 1854 Schichau built a shipyard in Elbing. A new large shipyard in Danzig was opened in 1890 (later becoming a part of the Polish Gdańsk Shipyard after 1945). In 1929 the shipyard was bought by the German government. In 1930 the company also bought a small yard in Königsberg.
After 1945 shipyards in Danzig, Königsberg and Elbing were found on the Soviet and Polish territories, and the company restarted business in Bremerhaven in West Germany, merging with the Unterweserweft in 1972 to become Schichau Unterweser and with Seebeckwerft in 1988 to become Schichau Seebeckwerft. The company was then bought by Bremer Vulkan and initially closed in 1996. The new SSW Schichau Seebeck Shipyard GmbH, founded in 1998, was closed in 2009.
With its long history of major shipbuilding, the company is also known as Schichau-Werft, or Schichau Seebeck Shipyard (Werft meaning shipyard).