The week started off in festive spirits at the Meyer Turku shipyard this Monday, as the construction of two ships was started ceremonially. The new Mein Schiff 1 will be completed in the spring of 2018 and the new Mein Schiff 2 in 2019. Meyer Turku is constructing the ships for the TUI Cruises shipping company. The ships’ design is a joint effort.

KEY FIGURES OF THE NEW MEIN SCHIFF VESSELS

Length: approx. 315.7 m
Width: approx. 35.8 m
Size: approx. 111,500 GT
Draught: approx. 8 m
No. of decks: 16
Passengers: approx. 2,894
Crew: 1,000
Home port: Malta
Engines: Marine electric diesel, 28,000 kW
Speed: approx. 21 knots
The new vessels will replace the Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2 cruise ships currently in use.

www.meyerturku.fi

Wybcke Meier, wearing a blue helmet, sits down on a work chair in the steel hall and starts the plasma cutter with the push of a button. The giant cutter starts to move smoothly and cuts into a piece of metal in a pool of water.

Meier, the Managing Director of TUI Cruises, has symbolically started building the ship that will become the new Mein Schiff 2 cruise vessel scheduled to launch from the Meyer Turku shipyard in 2019.

Coins for luck

A little while later, Wybcke Meier rivets a small bag of coins onto the base of the keel in the building pool. The keel will keep the new Mein Schiff 1 vessel, scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2018, on an even keel.

After Meier, Jan Meyer, Managing Director of Meyer Turku, does the honours. The lucky coins placed onto the keel supports are collected after the ship has been launched. They will finally be placed in the ship for luck when it is finished.

Added length, added possibilities

The new Mein Schiff vessels will be longer than their predecessors. The earlier ships in the series are 295 metres long, whereas the new ships are 315 metres long.

According to Meyer Turku, adding this length will enable a significant change in the design of the interior. The new ships can accommodate nearly 2,900 passengers.

“When the new Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2 are taken into use, we will have one of the most modern fleets in the world. Both ships are innovative and built with consideration for the environment,” Wybcke Meier, Managing Director of TUI Cruises, says.

At the moment, the Turku shipyard has Mein Schiff 6 in the furnishing area. It is the next vessel in line in the Mein Schiff series.

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