Rheinmetall and MSC to Acquire Romanian Mangalia Shipyard to Resume Military Shipbuilding

Rheinmetall and the Swiss shipping company MSC have won the auction to acquire the Mangalia shipyard in Romania.

Rheinmetall reported this on its official website.

The partners plan to modernize the shipyard and use it to build both civilian and military vessels. The facility is located on the Black Sea coast, south of the city of Constanța.

The companies plan to finalize the deal within a few weeks.

Rheinmetall also expects to use the shipyard for future military shipbuilding projects in Southeast Europe.

To this end, the partners plan to expand production capacity and modernize the existing infrastructure.

Specifically, the shipyard plans to build four vessels for the Romanian Navy: two 96-meter-long patrol ships and two 43-meter-long diver support vessels.

The facility has experience building military ships and significant capacity for working with large hulls.

The shipyard began building ships in 1976, and in 1997 it came under the management of the Daewoo-Mangalia Heavy Industries joint venture, which focused on the construction of large commercial vessels.

The shipyard played an important role in Romanian naval shipbuilding history. Between 1978 and 1985, the shipyard built the frigate Mărășești—the largest warship Romania had ever built based on its own design.

In 2026, the shipyard went bankrupt due to financial problems and a lack of orders.

Militarnyi previously reported that the Damen Galati shipyard in Romania had begun construction of Europe’s first multipurpose vessel—a drone carrier that will join the Portuguese Navy.