German submarine maker TKMS sees order backlog soar to €18 billion

"We achieved great successes in the first half of the year and recorded a record-level order backlog of over €16 billion ($18 billion)," said chief executive Oliver Burkhard.

In the first half of the 2024/2025 financial year, which runs until the end of September, the shipyard received orders worth nearly €5.6 billion, compared to €669 million in the same period last year.

At the end of the 2023/2024 financial year, the order backlog stood at €11.7 billion, but the figure has now risen to €18 billion, Burkhard said.

In early May, it was announced that Singapore had ordered two additional 70-metre-long submarines in northern Germany.

The submarines will be built at the TKMS shipyard in Wismar, rather than at the company's headquarters in Kiel, where the first units for Singapore were constructed.

In December, the German parliament's budget committee approved the construction of four additional modern Class 212CD submarines for the German Navy.

The order volume for the German units alone amounts to €4.7 billion.

TKMS is one of the world's leading companies in the marine industry, employing around 8,000 people across three shipyards in Kiel, Wismar and Itajaí (Brazil).