Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland has delivered Mein Schiff 6, the fourth of six newbuildings of TUI Cruises in Hamburg has ordered from the same builder.

Like the previous vessels delivered to the same owner, Mein Schiff 6 measures at about 99,700 gross tons, whereas the two remaining units on order by TUI Cruises will be larger at 111,500 gross tons.

“At the shipyard we have a very interesting working mode. Every one to two years we develop a new ship type and then we further refine it in the following sister ships. With Mein Schiff 6 our goal was to improve further from previous ships with a few fine tunings based on passenger feedback and at the same time build it with fewer hours than before. At the same time we are ramping up our production volume to meet the demands of our long and stable order book,” Jan Meyer, CEO, said in a statement.

With an order book reaching until 2024, Meyer Turku shipyard is facing a gradual ramp up of production in the coming years.

“We are rebuilding the shipyard with heavy investments exceeding €100 million for a further increase in output. This also allows us to strengthen our team of shipbuilders, until end of 2018 we are recruiting 500 persons. During the following years our direct employment effect together with our suppliers will increase from 7000 to over 20 000 persons. This is a great opportunity for a whole cluster of specialized suppliers to develop their technologies and processes and to grow with us,” Meyer said.