"These negotiations will include the permanent layoff of 450 people and another 900 are affected by other measures. These include temporary layoffs of different length, work time adjustments and other arrangements. All personnel groups and levels are part of the negotiations," the company announced in a statement.

The Turku shipyard on Finland's west coast, which mainly builds cruise ships, had initially begun talks on temporary layoffs but said the business situation had now forced it to search for permanent cuts.

Instead of ramping up from one to two large ships delivered annually until 2023, the expectation now is that only one large cruise ship per year will be constructed on the Turku yard.

Meyer Turku's order book at the start of the coronavirus outbreak contained seven ships scheduled for delivery through 2025. It said that exact changes to the design and delivery times for these vessels are being negotiated with its custom

Maritime Business World