Germany: Regulator approves shipbuilding consortium

Germany’s Bundeskartellamt has cleared, from the perspective of antitrust concerns, the construction of five corvettes for the German Unified Armed Forces by ruling that the newly-formed shipbuilding consortium breaks no competition laws.

This means that German Naval Yards Kiel GmbH will be able to join the ARGE K130 consortium – made up of Lürssen and Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems – which built a previous order for five corvettes of the same class.

Germany’s defense ministry wanted to speed up the corvette acquisition by avoiding an open procedure by buying the five corvettes directly from the ARGE K130 consortium, but the German cartel office upheld a complaint made by shipbuilding competitor German Naval Yards, arguing that an open tender had precedence over a quick procurement.

Full Content: Naval Today

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