Meyer Turku delivers Mein Schiff 4 to TUI Cruises
Meyer Turku handed over Mein Schiff 4 to TUI Cruises. The day was remarkable since this was the first delivery from Turku Shipyard under Meyers' ownership. Two days earlier, on 6 May 2015, the Meyer family, operating the shipbuilding company Meyer Werft in Germany, became 100% owner of the Meyer Turku Oy, the shipyard's owner said in a press release.
Meyer Turku has showed its capabilities in building the most demanding and complex cruise ships. Now, with Mein Schiff 4, Meyer Turku has refined its building processes even further. The project entered production two years ago and in February 2014, the keel of the ship was laid in the dry dock, and, in October 2014, the ship got water under her keel for the very first time. The production of the next evolution in the Mein Schiff series, Mein Schiff 5, started in February 2015. In June, there will be a keel laying ceremony for Mein Schiff 5 and, on the same day, the production of Mein Schiff 6 will start. By the end of this year, Mein Schiff 5 will be floated out and she will be delivered to TUI Cruises in the summer of 2016.
Mein Schiff 4 is 294 metres long and 36 metres wide. The ship, with a gross tonnage of 99,500, has a total of 1,253 cabins. 90 percent of these are outside cabins, 82 percent also have their own balcony. With a wide range of different cabin categories on offer, including cabins for families and spa fans, Mein Schiff 4 caters ideally to passengers’ individual comfort and well-being. Special highlights are the sea-and-sky suites over two decks, which feature their own 29-square-metre roof terrace.
Designed for the German premium-class cruise market, Mein Schiff cruise ships are sophisticated and highly innovative. The ships have been constructed using advanced and eco-friendly technologies. Featuring cutting-edge technologies, these new ships set standards in terms of energy efficiency, with energy consumption around 30 percent lower than for other cruise ships of the same size. By using the combined exhaust after-treatment system consisting of a scrubber and a catalyzer, sulfur emissions are lowered by as much as 99 percent and nitrogen oxide emission are reduced by around 75 percent.
“Today is a proud day since we have delivered Mein Schiff 4 to TUI Cruises and this beautiful ship is ready to sail. I want to warmly thank the ship builders of Meyer Turku, our subcontractors and the ship owner TUI Cruises for the great cooperation which enabled us together create this sophisticated cruise ship which is comparable to a complex travelling city. Now that Turku yard is 100% family company this makes me even more proud. Our passion for shipbuilding drives us to success with a long-term view. We value our history but we know that we have to constantly reinvent ourselves”, says Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku Oy.
Following today’s handover, the Mein Schiff 4 will be named in Kiel on June 5, before sailing on her maiden voyage to the Baltic States on June 6, 2015.
Meyer Turku employs 1,350 persons and specializes in building highly complex, innovative and environmentally friendly cruise ships, car-passenger ferries and special vessels. Together with two sister shipyards in Germany, Meyer Werft in Papenburg and Neptun Werft in Rostock, Meyer Turku is one of the world’s leading cruise ship builders. The successful shipbuilding tradition in Turku has been continuing since 1737. The company is currently building cruise ships for TUI Cruises and a fast ferry for Tallink. The design and construction of the ships are supported by the subsidiaries of Meyer Turku: Piikkio Works Oy, which is a Cabin Factory in Piikkio, Shipbuilding Completion Oy, which provides turnkey solutions to public spaces in ships, and ENG?nD Oy, which is an engineering company offering services for shipbuilding and offshore.
TUI Cruises is a joint venture between TUI AG and the global cruise shipping line Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. The company, founded in April 2008 and headquartered in Hamburg, has been offering cruises for the German-speaking market since May 2009. Since the commissioning of Mein Schiff 3 in summer 2014, the Mein Schiff fleet of TUI Cruises currently consists of three ships providing a bed capacity of 6,342 (Mein Schiff 1: 1,924, Mein Schiff 2: 1,912, Mein Schiff 3: 2,506). The ships have been designed from bow to stern with well-being and relaxation in mind. With its Premium All-Inclusive concept, TUI Cruises is targeting first and foremost couples and families whose focus is on freedom, space, quality and personal service. Mein Schiff’s numerous service restaurants, the spa and sport zone, a personal Nespresso machine in every cabin as well as spacious balconies ensure that a cruise holiday with TUI Cruises are perfect for body and soul. Within the scope of the fleet expansion, Mein Schiff 4 will be commissioned in summer 2015. With the identically constructed Mein Schiff 5 and Mein Schiff 6, the well-being fleet will then grow in 2016 and 2017 to six ships with around 14,000 beds. Environmentally friendly directed business practices are firmly anchored in the corporate values of TUI Cruises. The new vessels set new standards in terms of environmental friendliness.
