Papenburg, 03.11.1998 - On 31st December 1998 the Meyer Werft of Papenburg/Germany delivered the twentieth passenger ship to the Directorate General of Sea Communication, Jakarta/Indonesia. Before delivery the 14,800 gt newbuilding was named Kelud (after a mountain in Java, Indonesia) by Mrs. Suflini Izar, wife of the Indonesian ambassador to Germany. Guest of honour at the naming and hand-over ceremonies at the Papenburg shipyard was the Indonesian Minister of Communication, Giri Suseno Hadihardjono.

Kelud is the second in a new, technically advanced series of two passenger ships for Indonesia featuring improved container transport facilities and a considerably increased speed of 22.6 knots. Kelud is 146.5 m long, 23.4 m wide and is capable of carrying 1906 passengers.

With the completion of this ship the yard has built a total of 26 ships (20 passenger ships, 5 cargo/passenger ships and 1 gas tanker) for Indonesia. More than 40 million passengers have been carried on Meyer ships in Indonesia to date. In addition, ships with a carrying capacity of 500 passengers each are built in Surabaya/Indonesia in close cooperation with the Indonesian PT. PAL shipyard. These vessels ­ the first was completed in 1995, another two are under construction ­ are intended to be operated as feeder ships to the vessels built in Papenburg.

MEYER WERFT supplies the know-how, technical assistance and material packages. These material packages ­ 70 containers for one vessel ­ include equipment and machines that are required for the newbuildings in Indonesia. The cooperation between the MEYER WERFT and the island state of Indonesia is one of the most successful development projects in Germany.

On 3rd November 1998 the Kelud finally left Papenburg for Indonesia and arrived at the Indonesian capital Jakarta approximately 3 weeks later. The vessel´s home port is the Indonesian seaport of Surabaya.