Closure of Axel Springer’s Ahrensburg printing plant is preparation for the day chief executive Matthias Döpfner says printed copies of its Bild and Die Welt newspapers “would no longer exist”.

The plant near Hamburg will shut at the end of July 2024, by which time forecast declines in print circulations will mean plants in Berlin-Spandau and Essen-Kettwig will have the capacity to take on the displaced work.

Anoher reason cited is that there is “no way” to ensure the Springer plant will be “fully and efficiently supplied” following the closure of Bertelsmann Printing Group’s co-located Prinovis rotogravure printing plant. And investing in energy supply facilities of its own “would not be worthwhile”, according to a spokesperson.

Ahrensburg has printed partial editions of Bild, Bild am Sonntag, Die Welt and Welt am Sonntag, as well as Hamburger Abendblatt and partial editions of Süddeutsche Zeitung.