Papenburg, 16.11.2004 - Today the construction of a new pipe machining centre started at MEYER WERFT in Papenburg. Mr. Bernd Busemann, Lower Saxony's Minister of Education, initiated this demanding project in the ground-breaking ceremony.

The shipyard will invest more than 5 m € in this section of the innovative and technically demanding pipe machining centre as well as in the restructuring of existing facilities. "This investment means an ongoing improvement of our productivity and quality. It will give fresh impetus to our competitiveness," as Mr. Lambert Kruse, the shipyard's Head of the Production Department, puts it. And according to Mr. Bernard Meyer, "the investment in the new pipe machining centre is another element in the company's strategy to compensate for the massive cost pressure prevailing in the market by means of well-directed in- and outsourcing."

State-of-the-art, fully-automated, CNC-controlled pipe machining plants are the core of the new pipe machining centre. In these plants pipes having a diameter of 25 up to a maximum of 700 mm can be machined, the process being controlled by data generated in the planning systems of the design offices. Hence an increased number of pipes can be bent, welded up, fitted with flanges or machined otherwise in a considerably shorter period of time. In this way the new pipe machining centre will allow for a more cost-effective and future-oriented machining of pipes, which, on top of that, presents a consistent continuation of the shipyard's logistic concept. In view of the fact that more than 200 km worth of pipes per year per cruise ship have to be machined and installed, this type of machining is certainly a crucial step in a continued, consequential process of cost optimisation and the creation of new jobs.

Papenburg, 27.10.2004 - Today the Visitors Centre at MEYER WERFT welcomed the 200,000th guest visiting the shipyard this year. The guest and the bus tour operator, both from Hamburg, received surprise gifts which were handed over by a MEYER WERFT representative and Papenburg Touristik GmbH, the local tourism agency.

Papenburg, 25.10.2004 - Last weekend MS Eilbek, the container ship currently under construction at MEYER WERFT, was docked out after extensive tests had been carried out. The ship was moved to the outside dock of the yard where outfitting will be continued over the next weeks.

This newbuilding, yard number S. 671, is the first in a series of four novel container ships having a capacity of 1,600 containers (TEU).

Delivery of the first newbuilding of this series is scheduled for the beginning of 2005. The other ships will follow suit in the course of the next year. The order for the ships has been placed by the issuing company Hansa Hamburg Shipping International.

These fast and slender-built container vessels are 169.0 m long, 27.2 m wide, and can operate at a speed of 20 knots. From a technical viewpoint, they are outstanding, on the one hand, due to the highest ice class (Finnish-Swedish 1A Super), and on the other hand due to the special arrangement of the hatches. In the midship area they are designed as so-called "open-top ships" while on the forward end as well as on both sides hatch covers are provided.

MEYER WERFT builds Cruise Ships for German Market

Papenburg, 19.10.2004 - The German cruise operator AIDA Cruises (Rostock/Neu-Isenburg) has placed contracts with MEYER WERFT in Papenburg for the construction of two 68,500-gt cruise ships. Delivery of the two new club ships is scheduled for April 2007, or April 2009, respectively. These contracts will considerably improve the basic workload situation of the shipyard for the coming years.

"We are very pleased with these contracts which are extremely important for us. We have been struggling for almost two years to win these contracts, and had to face fierce competition on the way. Now we are glad that we are the ones who will build these new, sophisticated ships for the German cruise market," as Bernard Meyer, MEYER WERFT's CEO, puts it.

The two cruise ships will have a length over all of 249 metres and a width of 32.2 metres. These new club ships for AIDA Cruises will present the third generation of ships built and operated according to the AIDA concept. 2,030 passengers will be accommodated in 1,015 cabins. Moreover, the ships will feature plenty of technical innovations and interior design novelties. The well-known brand design regarding the outer appearance of the AIDA ships will be maintained.

Four large diesel engines will generate 36,000 kW (50,000 hp) thanks to which the new cruise ships will be able to operate at a speed of more than 21 knots. The cruise operator hitherto trading under the name Seetours, which is a member of the Carnival group, will operate under its brand name AIDA starting from November 1st. AIDA Cruises will increase their fleet and also intend to offer bigger ships. In 2003 the cruise operator was the market leader in Germany with almost 180,000 passengers.

Engines from MAN arrive at MEYER WERFT

Papenburg, 17.08.2004 - In front and inside of the covered building dock of MEYER WERFT in Papenburg, there was heavy shipping traffic once again today. On an inland water vessel, five big-sized diesel engines made by MAN B&W were shipped from Swabian Augsburg via Heilbronn on the river Neckar to Papenburg in the Emsland region. At MEYER WERFT, the new 12V48/60B-type engines are going to be installed in the 93,000-gt cruise ship newbuilding Norwegian Jewel. The ship to be built for the cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line is scheduled for delivery in the summer of 2005. Each of the five delivered diesel engines weighs 165 tonnes, is 5 metres high, 5 metres wide and 11 metres long. The output of each unit is 14,400 kW (19,600 hp), hence resulting in a total output of 72,000 kW, corresponding to approximately 100,000 hp. The generated power will be provided for both propulsion and hotel purposes. Thanks to the 5 MAN engines, the new cruise liner will be able to operate at a speed of abt. 25 knots. The longstanding, prosperous cooperation between the Augsburg-based engine manufacturer MAN B&W and the Papen-burg shipyard is another example of the technological importance the shipbuilding industry has in Germany. Nowadays, a high-tech vehicle like a passenger ship contains far more electronic systems and components than a wide-bodied aircraft. Not only Germany's coastal regions rely heavily on the shipyard industry. Next to the 23,000 employees working in the shipbuilding industry, another 70,000 people all over Germany are working for the shipbuilding suppliers. Supplier companies from the south of Germany account for 40 per cent of all involved firms.