Meyer Werft
The Meyer Werft is one of the remaining large German shipyards, headquartered in Papenburg. Since 1997, it has been part of the Meyer Neptun Group together with Neptun Werft in Rostock.
History
Founded in 1795 as a wharf for the construction of wooden ships, Josef Lambert Meyer started the construction of iron ships in 1874.[1] Until 1920 there were more than 20 dockyards in the Papenburg area. Today, Meyer Werft is the only remaining shipyard in Papenburg. For more than six generations, it has been a privately held and family-owned company.
Company
It gained international recognition through the construction of roll on/roll off ferries, passenger ferries, gasoline tankers, container ships, livestock ferries and most recently luxury cruise ships.
Meyer is one of the largest and most modern shipyards in the world with 2300 employees, and home to the by far largest roofed dry docks in the world. The first covered dock was inaugurated in 1987 and was 370 meters long, 101,5 meters wide and 60 meters high. In 1990/91 the dock was extended by an additional 100 meters. In 2000, a second covered dock was built, which is announced to be extended to a full length of 504 meters, a width of 125 meters and height of 75 meters in order to compete with Asian shipyards. Meyer Werft will as a result of this be able to build 3 cruise ships a year.[2]
Current cruise liner projects include the last ship from the Solstice Class: Celebrity Reflection. Meyer Werft will also build the Norwegian Breakaway and the Norwegian Getaway for Norwegian Cruise Line and the two ships of Project Sunshine for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.
Due to its upstream location on the river Ems, the giant ships to be delivered have to make a 36 km voyage to the Dollart bay and which each time attracts thousands of spectators. Up until the completion of the Ems river barrier ("Emssperrwerk") in 2002, the journey was only possible at high tides.In February 2011, Meyer Werft signed a contract with Royal Caribbean International to build a new class of ship, code named "Project Sunshine".The first ship is expected to enter service in 2014, with an option of a second ship to be delivered in 2015.
Passenger ships built at Meyer Werft GmbH (selection)
- 2015 Project Sunshine 2 (158,000 GT, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines)
- 2014 Project Sunshine 1 (158,000 GT, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines)
- 2014 Norwegian Getaway (144,000 GT, Norwegian Cruise Line)
- 2013 Norwegian Breakaway (144,000 GT, Norwegian Cruise Line)
- 2013 Celebrity Reflection (126,000 GT, Celebrity Cruises)
- 2012 Disney Fantasy (128,000 GT, Disney Cruise Line)
- 2012 AIDAmar (71,300 GT, AIDA Cruises)
- 2011 Disney Dream (128,000 GT, Disney Cruise Line)
- 2011 AIDAsol (71,300 GT, AIDA Cruises)
- 2010 Celebrity Eclipse (122,000 GT, Celebrity Cruises)
- 2010 AIDAblu (71,300 GT, AIDA Cruises)
- 2009 Celebrity Equinox (122,000 GT, Celebrity Cruises)
- 2009 AIDAluna (69,200 GT, AIDA Cruises)
- 2008 Celebrity Solstice (122,000 GT, Celebrity Cruises)
- 2008 AIDAbella (68,500 GT, AIDA Cruises)
- 2007 Norwegian Gem (93,500 GT, Norwegian Cruise Line)
- 2007 AIDAdiva (68,500 GT, AIDA Cruises)
- 2006 Norwegian Pearl (93,500 GT, Norwegian Cruise Line)
- 2006 Pride of Hawaii (93,500 GT, Norwegian Cruise Line), renamed Norwegian Jade
- 2005 Norwegian Jewel (92,000 GT, Norwegian Cruise Line)
- 2004 Jewel of the Seas (90,090 GT, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines)
- 2004 MV Pont-Aven (40,700 GT, Brittany Ferries)
- 2003 Serenade of the Seas (90,090 GT, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines)
- 2002 Brilliance of the Seas (90,090 GT, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines)
- 2002 Norwegian Dawn (91,740 GT, Norwegian Cruise Line)
- 2001 Radiance of the Seas (90,090 GT, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines)
- 2001 Norwegian Star (91,740 GT, Norwegian Cruise Line)
- 2000 Aurora (76,000 GT, P&O Cruises)
- 1999 SuperStar Virgo (76,800 GT, Star Cruises)
- 1998 SuperStar Leo, renamed Norwegian Spirit (76,800 GT, Norwegian Cruise Line)
- 1997 Celebrity Mercury (77,713 GT, Celebrity Cruises)
- 1996 Celebrity Galaxy (77,713 GT, Celebrity Cruises)
- 1995 Celebrity Century (70,606 GT, Celebrity Cruises)
- 1993 Silja Europa (59,914 GT, Silja Line)
- 1995 MV Oriana (69,153 GT, P&O Cruises)
- 1992 Zenith (47,255 GT, Celebrity Cruises)
- 1990 Horizon (46,811 GT, Celebrity Cruises)
- 1988 Crown Odyssey (34,242 GT, Royal Cruise Lines) later Orient Lines, renamed Norwegian Crown (Norwegian Cruise Line)
- 1985 Homeric (42,092 BRT, Home Line) remodeled and renamed to Westerdam (53.872 GT, Holland America Line) in 1990, then renamed Costa Europa (Costa Crociere)
- 1979-80 ex Viking Sally (MS Estonia) - sunk in 1994
- 1913 Graf Goetzen, today MV Liemba, still running. Most probably the second oldest passenger ship still in service (oldest probably Gisela, a paddle steamer on Traunsee, Austria.
References
- ^ Meyer Werft Website, "Triton"
- ^ "Meyer Werft baut größte Dockhalle der Welt". Spiegelonline. 2008-01-18. http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,529589,00.html. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
List of shipyards
External links
- This article incorporates information from the revision as of November 5, 2006 of the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.