Work on building another ship begins. The name of the new ship which will be completed in 2019 was announced during the steel cutting ceremony at the MEYER WERFT Laser Center.

The steel cutting ceremony for the ship Norwegian ENCORE, vessel number S.708, heralds the start of work at the MEYER WERFT in Papenburg on building another cruise ship for Norwegian Cruise Line. The start button of the computer-controlled cutting machine was pressed by Andy Stuart, President of Norwegian Cruise Line, together with Tim Meyer, Managing Director of the MEYER WERFT. This started the machining of the first steel plate for the cruise line's new ship.

In view of the strict environmental regulations, the ship will be equipped with emission control systems and very environmentally friendly engines for generating power. The entire engineering had put a main focus on energy efficiency. Absolute priority was given to aspects such as heat recovery, electric motors in the top energy efficiency class, LED lighting, optimized underwater paintwork to reduce resistance, weight-optimized material selection and many other topics.

Norwegian ENCORE is the fourth ship in the Breakaway Plus class. The ship will offer numerous options for entertainment and dining venues on board, with many world-class amenities for guests to enjoy while sailing to their dream destinations. The ship will be setting new standards with its size of 167,800 GRT and its new design, offering capacity for 3,998 passengers.

Prior to the steel cutting ceremony Norwegian Cruise Line executives, travel partners and members of the media were provided with a guided tour through the MEYER WERFT covered building dock where Norwegian Encore’s sister-ship, Norwegian Bliss, is currently in the final stages of construction. Joining the group was the ship’s renowned hull artist Wyland, who put the finishing touches on his incredible artwork. Known for his paintings and sculptures of marine life, the artwork adorning the hull of Norwegian Bliss features scenes of whales and sea creatures. The artwork is meant to inspire all who gaze upon Norwegian Bliss and serve as a reminder for the importance of ocean conservation.

More information about the ships and the shipping company is available at: www.ncl.de and www.meyerwerft.de.

It is ten years ago since the start of strategic cooperation between OSRAM and MEYER WERFT in order to become joint innovation leaders for cruise ship lighting concepts. The contract has now been renewed.

In renewing the contract between OSRAM and MEYER WERFT, today the cooperation between both companies has become further consolidated. In the next ten years, OSRAM and MEYER WERFT want to continue working as a strong team on their shared journey towards the digitisation of light on cruise ships.

The first contract was concluded 10 years ago in November 2007. Cooperation between the companies has developed successfully since that date. Optimised lighting concepts introduced numerous energy saving solutions that have helped to cut costs for both MEYER WERFT and its customers. The integration of smart, digital light management systems will put the companies even more securely in the lead when it comes to lighting for cruise ships.

In the last ten years, 26 cruise ships have been fitted with corresponding lighting concepts by OSRAM and handed over by MEYER WERFT to customers such as AIDA Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Dream Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Cruises. Depending to the size about 30-40.000 lighting points are installed on each ship.

Photo MEYER WERFT M.Wessels:
from left to right: Stephan Schmees (Executive Board Member Project Management Ships, MEYER WERFT), Klaus Lübbers (Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), MEYER WERFT), Dr. Olaf Berlien (CEO, OSRAM), Bernard Meyer (Managing Director, MEYER WERFT), Jan Meyer (Managing Director, MEYER WERFT), Tim Meyer (Managing Director, MEYER WERFT), Martin Jost (Sales Manager DS Deutschland, Key Account Manager Meyer Werft, OSRAM), Andreas Bär (Vertical Account Manager Marine Lighting, OSRAM).

Once more a regular routine fire drill was held on a cruise ship under construction at the shipyard, involving Papenburg-Untenende and Papenburg-Obenende voluntary fire brigades, the Emergency Coordination Center of Emsland District, together with the company fire brigade and paramedics from MEYER WERFT. Altogether about 100 fire fighters were involved. These drills are of great importance for the shipyard and are held at regular intervals.

The scenario: Fire broke out in a cabin on deck 11 with thick smoke developing. The fire brigade searched the neighbouring cabins to see if anyone was missing. This entailed opening the cabins, searching them a thermal imaging camera and then marking them accordingly. It is very important for the cabins to be marked after being checked to inform following emergency teams so that no valuable time is lost during the rescue phase. As the 'incident' progressed, extensive heat radiation and dense smoke on decks 10 and 11 made it impossible for staff working here to leave these areas in safety. The emergency services used smoke hoods to rescue the employees from the danger zone.

Thomas Weigend (Managing Director), Martin Eggengoor (Head of Safety and Security Management) and Erik Feimann (commander of the company fire brigade) were well satisfied with the fire drill: "The focus of the drill was to find people who had become trapped in the danger zone. Similarly, the drill trained the procedures involved in fighting the fire, evacuating the ship, taking care of casualties and using the digital company radio network for communication. As in previous drills, here once more all the emergency forces worked together very well", said Martin Eggengoor.

Late on Monday evening, there was a serious work-place accident in building dock II at MEYER WERFT, where a 51-year old employee from a partner firm lost his life.

For reasons that are still to be explained, he fell from the dockside into the building dock during the late shift. The emergency services consisting of ambulance service, company fire brigade and police were on the spot immediately but there was nothing more they could do to help. The victim died at the scene of the accident. The Criminal Investigation Department is currently looking into the exact cause of the accident.

"We deeply regret the death of the employee and extend our condolences to his family. We will now do all within our power to support the police in their investigations to as-certain the cause of the accident as quickly as possible and to clarify exactly what hap-pened", said Managing Director Thomas Weigend.