New 76,800-gt cruise liner built by MEYER WERFT

Papenburg, 28.06.1999 - The river passage of the new cruise liner Super Star Virgo built in Papenburg will be shown live at our homepage on the Internet on 28th of June. Visiting our homepage www.meyerwerft.de will give the possibility of getting information about the ship and pictures from the passage down the River Ems, e.g. directly from the wheelhouse. The Super Star Virgo the cruise liner for the cruise company Star Cruises, will depart from Papenburg on 26th of June 1999. It will leave MEYER WERFT and travel down the River Ems to the harbour of Eemshaven in the northern part of the Netherlands from where it will start for sea trials in the North Sea. With an overall length of 268 meters and a breadth of 32.20 meters the Super Star Virgo will accomodate a maximum of 2,475 passengers in about 1,000 cabins. The total installed power on board will be about 75,000 bhp. The speed of the cruise liner will be 24 kn. The time schedule for the passage on the River Ems will be as follows -subject to change due to weather and tidal conditions: All times in MEST (Middle European Summer Time) Monday, 28.6. abt. 12:15 h - Passage into the River Ems abt. 14:00 h - Passage of the Friesen Bridge in Weener abt. 15:35 h - Arrival Leerort Tuesday, 29.6. abt. 00:35 h - Passage Jann-Berghaus Bridge abt. 06:15 h - Arrival Eemshaven, Ship is moored Friedhelm Husemeyer, the yard's captain, has a long standing experience for these passages with such large ships. There will be four more pilots on board to assist him. The whole team takes sessions in a computer based simulator to be perfectly prepared for the sail out on the river and to be able to manage the passage through the Friesen Bridge in Weener. The cruise liner will be assisted by four tugs: The tugs Rotesand and Watermann, 3,257 and bhp 2,400 respectively, and for stand-by and auxiliary needs the tug Hillerdine Wessels, 1,875 bhp, and the yard's own tug Rolf Willm, 1,026 bhp. The speed for the voyage down the river will be about 7 km/h. Super Star Virgo will be used for cruises to the Asian islands. This highly sophisticated cruise liner is designed specially for the growing Far East cruise industry. More information can be found at www.starcruises.com The next cruise vessel - the Aurora (owner: the British shipping company P&O) is at present under construction in the covered building dock at MEYER WERFT and is expected to be delivered in spring 2000. Super Star Virgo - Main particulars