Finland's Meyer Turku shipyard has confirmed it will lay off 166 workers permanently as the pandemic hits cruiseship orders.
It has concluded the first part of talks over the redundancies, leaving 86 production staff and 80 office employees without jobs.
"Due to the production schedules of the shipyard, the negotiations concerning outfitting, design and HR functions will continue and will be finished during this year," the German-owned company said.
"The corona crisis has changed [the] landscape of cruise operation and shipbuilding drastically," it added.
In April, Meyer Turku had announced it was aiming to stretch its orderbook to 2025 and find new work into 2026.
But it also started negotiations over 450 redundancies.
More pain to come
"With the lay-offs, Meyer Turku will also start a transition program where everybody willing will get personal guidance, support and specialised training to ease the transition," it said.
It has around 2,000 staff in total.
Another 900 workers will face other restructuring measures, including temporary furloughs of differing lengths and work-time adjustments.
The cruiseship sector has been devastated by the outbreak, with vessels idled and cruise majors seeking extra funding to stay afloat.
Big-name clients
The company is building seven large cruiseships for Royal Caribbean, Carnival and TUI, due between October this year and 2025.
The yard revealed 2019 financial figures earlier this year that showed that it suffered a net loss of €109.7m ($117.59m), compared to a profit of €29m in 2018.
Revenue was €1.14bn, up from €976m the year before.
In October, it emerged that the shipyard was hit by 21 cases of pneumococcal pneumonia among workers finishing off a Carnival vessel.
Vaccinations were carried out at the yard following the outbreak.
