Meyer Turku hands over Mein Schiff 4

L to R: Frank Kuhlmann, CFO TUI Cruises, Wybcke Meier CEO TUI Cruises, Jan Meyer CEO Meyer Turku, and Tapani Pulli‎, Deputy Yard Director Meyer Turku

MAY 8, 2015 — Just two days after coming under 100% Meyer family ownership, Finland’s Meyer Turku Shipyard today handed over the cruise ship Mein Schiff 4 to TUI Cruises.

“Our expansion is advancing in leaps and bounds thanks to the perfect coordination between the shipyard, our construction team, and all companies involved. We are highly satisfied and delighted at this new addition to our fleet,” said Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises.

“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 shipbuilders of Meyer Turku, our subcontractors and the shipowner TUI Cruises for the great cooperation which enabled us together create this sophisticated cruise ship which is comparable to a complex traveling city. Now that Turku yard is a 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,” said Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku Oy.

Designed for the German premium-class cruise market, the 99,500 gt Mein Schiff 4 is 294 m long and 36 m wide and has a total of 1,253 cabins.The Mein Schiff 4 project entered production two years ago and in February 2014, the vessel’s keel was laid in the dry dock, with the ship first getting water under its keel in October 2014.

Production of the next ship in the series, Mein Schiff 5, started in February 2015, with a keel laying ceremony set for next month, when 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, a joint venture between TUI AG and Royal Caribbean, in the summer of 2016.

The ships are being constructed using advanced and eco-friendly technologies. Energy consumption is said to be around 30 percent lower than for other cruise ships of the same size. By using a 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.