In an upbeat review of its own situation Lloyd Werft described the outlook for German shipbuilding as "still not very encouraging" and "unlikely to change in the coming year".

Privately owned Lloyd Werft does not offer any financial figures to support its “very satisfactory” assessment of 2014, a year that saw it build its first pipe-layer for Ceona.

The shipyard says it secured a dozen contracts to build or convert cruise and offshore vessels, enabling 100% utilization of its 350 employees.