Meyer Turku starts construction of Carnival XL1
Meyer Turku says it has started today the production of a 5,286-lower berth cruise ship for Carnival Cruise Line. The ship will be the first North American-based cruise ship to run on LNG and will also be the largest Carnival cruise ship ever built with 180 000 gross tonnage (GT).
With the first steel cutting the physical form of the ship will start to takeshape. The new Carnival ship will offer a variety never-before-seen innovations and will be part of Carnival Corporation’s “green cruising” design platform.
“This new ship promises to be truly special, from its ground-breaking one-of-a-kind features to a distinctive hull painting and hull design that is both timeless and forward-thinking while paying tribute to our nearly 50-year history of making wonderful vacation memories for our guests,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.
Production ramp-up is moving forward at Meyer Turku shipyard with this large, state-of-the-art cruise ship. Meyer Turku’s production is already at the level of previous all-time high and more than doubled from 2014 when Meyer family bought the shipyard.
“We are extremely pleased to work together with Carnival on this large and highly innovative ship. With the first steel cutting, our efforts in designing the hull, features and interior of the ship start to take shape. We are also very proud to build the first-ever LNG using cruise ship for North American market, making this state-of-the-art green technology a reality,” commented Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku.
To enable the ramp-up of production, Meyer Turku has hired more than 700 new shipbuilders since 2014 and recruitments are continuing with a pace of approximately 200 people each year.
Meyer Turku has been also investing heavily, with largest investments, a large part of 200 million investment program going to the steel factory. The shipyard’s steel halls will have a new plate cutting line, a new profile cutting line and a new panel line, all under final stages of construction at the moment.
“With our new steel pre-treatment facility and storage and of course the new gantry crane that started operation in May, we are already seeing the effects of these investments. Next we will take further custom designed machines with increased automation into use in hull production. This all is happening in parallel with our ramp-up of both design and production in order to deliver on the promises we have made to our customers. For us and the network this is very exciting time as we are able to really show what we are capable of with the design and also the construction of these very sophisticated cruise ships,” CEO of Meyer Turku Jan Meyer states.
Carnival XL1 will be built on new green cruising platform for Carnival, yet it will feature completely newly designed interior spaces that Meyer Turku interior design team is working together with Carnival designers.
The as-yet-unnamed Carnival cruises ship will operate from Florida beginning in 2020. The ship’s name is scheduled to be revealed in early December. Details on the ship’s inaugural season are planned to be announced in January, with information on the vessel’s vast array of exciting culinary, beverage and entertainment options to be revealed later in 2019. A second XL class ship is scheduled for delivery in 2022.
Meyer Turku Oy employs 2,000 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 Costa Crocier. The order book also icludes cruise shipas for Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean International.
The design and construction of the ships are supported by the subsidiaries of Meyer Turku: Piikkio Works Oy, which is a Cabin Factory in Piikkiö, 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.
Carnival Cruise Line, part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), is "The World's Most Popular Cruise Line®" with 26 ships operating three- to 24-day voyages to The Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, New England, Bermuda, Cuba, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia. The line currently has three new ships scheduled for delivery – the 133,500-ton Carnival Panorama set to debut in 2019 and two as-yet-unnamed 180,000-ton ships in 2020 and 2022.
