One of the world’s largest shipping companies could be preparing to make a dramatic move into cruise shipbuilding.
MSC is reportedly in preliminary discussions to acquire the approximately 80% stake in Meyer Werft currently held by Germany’s federal government and the state of Lower Saxony, potentially giving the shipping giant control of one of the cruise industry’s most important shipyards.
German business newspaper Handelsblatt reported September 21 that discussions are taking place, also citing reports from Bloomberg and the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung. Handelsblatt said neither MSC nor Meyer Werft has officially confirmed the negotiations.
No agreement has been announced, and the talks are reportedly still at an early stage.
That means a transaction is far from certain. Other potential buyers could emerge, and negotiations could ultimately conclude without a sale.
Still, the possibility of MSC controlling Meyer Werft would represent a fascinating shift in the cruise industry’s shipbuilding landscape.
Meyer Werft’s Papenburg shipyard is one of the world’s best-known builders of cruise ships. The company says it has delivered 61 cruise ships and employs approximately 3,200 people.
The German federal government and Lower Saxony stepped in to rescue the shipbuilder in 2024, jointly acquiring around 80% of the company and investing €400 million. The Meyer family retained just under 20%.
The government intervention was intended to be temporary while Meyer Werft worked through financial problems stemming from the pandemic, higher costs and the unusual financing structure of cruise ship construction.
In September 2024, Meyer Werft explained that approximately 80% of a cruise ship’s construction price is typically paid only when the vessel is delivered, requiring the shipyard to finance enormous construction costs before receiving most of the purchase price.
The intriguing part of a possible MSC deal is that the cruise company is already poised to become one of Meyer Werft’s most important customers.
MSC Cruises and Meyer Werft announced plans in December 2025 for four next-generation cruise ships, plus options for two additional vessels.
Known as the New Frontier platform, the ships are expected to measure approximately 180,000 gross tons and accommodate as many as 5,400 passengers. Deliveries are planned annually beginning in 2030.
In June, MSC Cruises and Meyer Werft said negotiations surrounding the complex shipbuilding contracts had reached an advanced stage.
An ownership deal would therefore potentially transform MSC from a major Meyer Werft customer into the controlling shareholder of the company building its future ships.
But the implications stretch well beyond MSC.
Meyer Werft has long built cruise ships for competing cruise companies. Disney Cruise Line has an extensive relationship with the shipyard, while Carnival Cruise Line’s newest Excel-class ships are also being constructed there.
Meyer Werft delivered Disney Destiny in October 2025 and says another Disney sister ship is currently under construction in Papenburg for delivery in 2027.
Carnival Tropicale, meanwhile, recently reached its steel-cutting milestone at Meyer Werft and is scheduled to enter service for Carnival Cruise Line in 2028.
That creates an obvious question if MSC ultimately takes control: how would the shipyard preserve the commercial confidentiality and independence expected by competing cruise companies building ships at the same facility?
There is no indication that current customer projects would be affected, and it would be premature to suggest otherwise.
Meyer Werft continues to describe itself as one of the world’s largest and most modern shipyards, with extensive expertise designing and constructing highly specialized cruise ships.
For now, the most important point is that an MSC takeover remains a possibility, not a deal.
If negotiations advance, however, the transaction could become one of the most consequential cruise-industry ownership developments in years—putting a major cruise operator on both sides of the shipbuilding equation.
