Start of construction on Ovation of the Seas

Papenburg, 18 September 2014 - The first piece of steel was cut at MEYER WERFT in Papenburg, Germany for the construction of the third ship of Quantum class for Royal Carribean International with the construction number S.699.
Richard D. Fain, CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., pushed the button of the plasma torch as the first plate of steel was cut by the plasma torch in the yard’s state of the art facility “lasercenter”.
Meanwhile the name of the third Quantum class ship was published as well - “Ovation of the Seas”. Delivery of the ship is planned for spring 2016. The sister ships, Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas, will be delivered in fall 2014 and spring 2015. The Quantum class ships will be 168000 gross tons and have a capacity of 4.200 passengers.
The management and project teams of Royal Caribbean and Meyer Werft took part at the ceremony for the first steel cut. “We are glad to continue the long lasting business relationship and build such innovative cruise ships for Royal Caribbean International”, says Bernard Meyer.

Ems Conveyance Quqntum of the Seas

German cruise ship builder strengthens its yards

Papenburg/Helsinki, 04 August 2014 – MEYER WERFT joins forces with the STX Finland shipyard in Turku. Following weeks of negotiations the Finnish Government and MEYER WERFT signed a share purchase agreement with the current owner STX Europe. With its 70% stake MEYER WERFT takes the industrial leadership of the new company.

At present some 1,300 employees and a specialised supplier network are involved in the construction of the cruise ship Mein Schiff 4 for the German cruise operator TUI Cruises from Hamburg. TUI Cruises just announced to order another two ships of this class in Turku. STX Finland is a specialist in the construction of cruise ships and a yard that holds exceptional technological know-how.

As Dr. Jan Meyer, managing partner of MEYER WERFT, explained, " This acquisition will strengthen the yards in Papenburg, Turku and Rostock: With joining forces with Turku we can offer more flexibility to our customers. In addition both shipyards respect each other for their high level of professionalism and thus can learn a lot from each other in order to improve their working processes or to join forces on research & development.

We are confident that in this way we can create a good opportunity for the Finnish maritime cluster to thrive and also hope to interest many young people to join us for building the future high-tech ships."

The acquisition is still subject to clearance by the antitrust authorities and banks. The plan is to rename the company STX Finland Oy to Meyer Turku Shipyard Oy.

The German shipbuilder MEYER WERFT and the Finnish state are currently discussing with STX Europe AS to acquire their subsidiary STX Finland Oy, comprising the Turku yard.

The consortium has now reached meaningful progress on the main terms of the transaction. However, there are a still a number of open issues that need to be solved, including a number of discussions and agreements to be concluded with other stakeholders.

"If we all work on it and create favorable conditions for the yard, we see a positive long term future for the Turku yard and the whole maritime cluster in the region that the yard has a symbiotic relationship with. The negotiations are continuing intensively and we are confident that the we can make necessary progress within a short period", note Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vapaavuori and Managing Director Jan Meyer.

The common objective is to achieve a final settlement soon.