thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, one of the world's leading enterprises in the naval industry, is celebrating the start of a new phase in the company's development with the launch of a new brand. From now on, it will operate under the new brand name TKMS and the new claim "Your Maritime Powerhouse". The new name and the new brand represent an important milestone along the path to the independent positioning of TKMS.

On June 4, 2025, TKMS is celebrating the introduction of the new brand with a major event in Kiel: Thousands of employees and guests will experience the brand launch live on site and online worldwide. Later in the evening, a drone, light and laser show will immerse the event on the Kiel Fjord in the company's new colors. The rebranding of the TKMS locations will take place in stages: initially at the main locations in Kiel and Bremen, then at the other facilities in Germany and abroad. The companies of the TKMS Group will be renamed accordingly under the new umbrella brand.

Oliver Burkhard, CEO of TKMS, declared: "Our new brand identity helps us to be perceived even more strongly as an independent company, in line with our plans to be listed on the stock exchange later this year. The abbreviation TKMS, used extensively thus far, is now a separate brand that combines our tradition, our present and our future. It is bold and stands for technological excellence, precision and clarity. All in line with our claim 'Your Maritime Powerhouse'. TKMS clearly symbolizes the One Company philosophy: As an integrated systems house, we are the only German naval company to unite all maritime fields under one roof. Not only do we have a long tradition of technical excellence, we also have a very pleasing track record – not least due to the numerous orders we have received in recent months. This spurs us on and we will continue to strengthen our leading role."

The future brand identity of TKMS

The short, concise name of the TKMS brand stands for itself. In this way, an internally and externally established abbreviation has now become an independent company name and brand profile. The new color spectrum is derived from the colors of submarines (black, anthracite), surface vessels (gray) the rank insignia of naval uniforms and steel production (yellow). This makes the new TKMS brand identity very different from the previous blue color scheme, which is also widely used in the maritime defense industry.

A new brand architecture also supports the company's consistent repositioning in terms of communication and ensures a clear structure: The operating units – surface vessels and submarines, the electronics and software solutions of ATLAS ELEKTRONIK and the civilian division NXTGEN – are therefore subordinated to the TKMS umbrella brand in the sense of a common brand identity. "It is sound and opportune that we increasingly speak with one voice to our customers and business partners and are visually perceived as a strong unified entity. Of course, this also applies especially to our employees," explained Oliver Burkhard.

TKMS is consistently pursuing its positioning as a separate company. This is to be completed by the end of the year as part of a spin-off of a minority stake in TKMS to the shareholders of tkAG. The company is on its way to independence with a very well-filled order book: Following the order for four additional Type212CD submarines for the Federal Republic of Germany, the award of the contract for the construction of the new 'Polarstern' for the Alfred Wegener Institute and the recent signing of a contract for the follow-up order of two submarines for Singapore, the order book has now risen to around €18 billion.