Meyer Werft

Meyer Werft GmbH
Type Private
Industry Shipbuilding
Founded 1795
Headquarters Papenburg, Germany
Key people Bernard Meyer, CEO
Products cruise ships
tankers
livestock carriers
ferries
Employees ~2,300 (2006)
Parent Meyer Neptun Group
Website www.meyerwerft.com

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.

Contents

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)

References

  1. ^ Meyer Werft Website, "Triton"
  2. ^ "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.