Page 28: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2012)

28Maritime Reporter & Engineering News CRUISE SHIPPINGFEATURE Creative Shipbuilding Meyer Werft has always proven to be extremely creative when it comes to outfitting of their luxury liners: climb- ing walls on sundecks, golf simulators, Broadway-style theatres or ultramod- ern beauty and spa areas make holiday dreams come true. This well-estab- lished company has meanwhile devel- oped into Germany?s biggest contractor for theatres. Moreover, with its green ship con- cept, the shipyard has been pursuing a lasting strategy for improving the eco- friendliness of cruise ships. This con- cept embraces reduced emissions andenergy consumption, environmentally friendly water and sewage treatment as well as non-polluting waste disposal. Luxury car and passenger ferries aswell as RoRo ferries and passengerships also count among the shipyard?s range of products. Over the past few decades Meyer Werft has built 30 fer- ries and RoRo ships. Neptun Werft GmbH with it?s headquarter in Rostock , is a builder, among others, of river cruise ships which are operated on theDanube and the Rhône, for instance.Neptun Werft currently has ships on order, or under construction respec- tively, for the river cruise operators A- ROSA Flussschiff GmbH, Rostock/Germany and Viking Croisière S.A., Basel, Switzerland. In April of the past year 2011, Neptun delivered the river cruiser A-Rosa Brava and in same years July the Viking Prestige to it?s client. Since 1983 Meyer Werft has also built 24 passenger ships for the Repub- lic of Indonesia. The latest ship was the Gunung Dempo which the shipyard de- livered to the Indonesian owners in June 2008. Meyer Werft is also focus- ing on the construction of gas tankers for the transportation of liquefied and chemical gases. In 2010 the 55th gas tanker was completed and delivered to the owner by the Papenburg ship- builders. And last but not least: After design- ing a new prototype at the computer the innovative newbuild begins to take shape: The steel cutting of the first LNG carrier with a so-called dual-fuelengine for shipping company Anthony Veder (Rotterdam/NL) marks a new era. The new tanker for the transport of Liquefied Natural Gas will have a length overall of about 156 m, a breadth of 22.7 m and a cargo capacity of 15,600 cu. m., which can be cooleddown to minus 164° C. The ship, which will be named Coral Energy, is able to operate at a speed of 15.8 knots and canbe powered by LNG as well as heavy fuel oil. The delivery of the vessel is scheduled for Q4 2012. Neptun Werft will be highly involved in the construc- tion and outfitting of this new LNG car- rier. SHIPYARD HISTORY In 1975 the shipyard moved its prem- ises from the town center to the periph-ery of Papenburg, where first of all a covered building dock was built, which was extended between 1987 and 1990. To meet the strong demand for new- buildings, Meyer Werft made the biggest investment in the history of the company in 2002: a second building dock and prefabrication halls featuring state-of-the-art laser welding plantswere built. The new building dock was once again extended by 120 m in 2008. Currently the laser welding plant un-Meyer Werft Papenburg with its covered building docks. The latest delivery, Disney Fantasy. The next supply waits already for floating: AIDAmar. ?Approximately 800 suppliers are involved in the building of a cruise ship. Our own share of the cost of building these highly complex vessels is only about 25% nowadays? the equipment suppliers account for around 75% of the cost of building a new cruise ship. As well as procurement directly related to the ship, we also work with many more suppliers, more than 20,000 companies, who provide us with goods and services.? Ralf Sempf, head of materials mgmt. & purchasing, Meyer Werft MR Feb.12 # 4 (26-33):MR Template 2/6/2012 1:02 PM Page 28