News

Meyer Werft delivers Odyssey of the Seas

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 01 April 2021 01 April 2021

Meyer Werft delivered the Odyssey of the Seas to the Royal Caribbean Group on March 31. The Quantum Ultra class cruise ship marks the completion of a series of five ships whose construction Meyer Werft started in January 2013 with the launch of the Quantum of the Seas.

"Royal Caribbean Group commissioned us in 2011 to build the first two units of the Quantum class, which have been very popular with passengers since day one. We have continuously improved and developed these ships, so that we have now built a total of five ships and delivered them since 2014," says Stephan Schmees, Member of the Executive Board Project Management Ships.

This makes the Quantum class one of the largest ship series Meyer Werft has built to date. The construction of the five sister ships comprises a total of 840,000 gross tons with, among other things, 11,000 kilometres of cable lines, 2,000 kilometres of piping from Meyer Werft's pipe centre and 10,500 passenger cabins from EMS PreCab.

Third successful ship delivery during the pandemic

"We have now successfully delivered the third cruise ship from Papenburg to our customers during the pandemic. This is an important sign of the strength of our shipyard and for the industry as a whole. However, given our stretched order book with the reduced workload, we still have major challenges ahead. If we can achieve a good future package for the years up to 2025, we have every opportunity to secure the company and many jobs in Papenburg with the existing orders," says Jan Meyer, Managing Director of Meyer Werft.

With the Quantum class, the engineers have once again brought a host of innovations to sea. Like its sister ships Quantum of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas, Ovation of the Seas and Spectrum of the Seas, Meyer Werft's latest newbuilding features the glass, 90-metre-high observation gondola North Star, the surf simulator FlowRider as well as the skydiving simulator RipCord by iFly and the Sky Pad, a virtual reality, bungee trampoline experience located on the aft of the ship.

Odyssey of the Seas is measured at 169,000 gross tons, 347.1 metres long, 41.4 metres wide and accommodates 4,210 passengers.

As a further development of the Quantum class, the Odyssey of the Seas, like her four sister ships, has state-of-the-art exhaust gas purification systems such as so-called hybrid scrubbers and SCR catalytic converters. Very energy-efficient technical systems, optimised hydrodynamics, intelligent heat recovery and numerous other facilities lead to considerable energy savings. A diesel-electric pod drive, extensive alarm and security systems, interactive communication systems as well as state-of-the-art stage technology guarantee safety and entertainment according to the highest technical standards.

After delivery to the shipping company, the Odyssey of the Seas will leave Bremerhaven. On 2 June, the ship departs from Haifa (Israel) for cruises in the Mediterranean Sea.

NYK Cruises orders newbuilding from Meyer Werft

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 31 March 2021 31 March 2021

The Japanese cruise shipping company NYK Cruises and Meyer Werft have signed a contract for the construction of a new cruise ship. Noteworthy Meyer Werft is the first shipyard in the world to have succeeded in doing so, as no shipping company has placed a newbuilding order for a cruise ship since the beginning of the pandemic. The NYK Group is now placing its first order in Papenburg.

This is an important signal for Meyer Werft's Papenburg site with the world's largest covered building dock, even if the newbuilding is relatively small at 229 metres in length (51,950 GT).

"It is another very important step towards securing the Papenburg site. New orders are absolutely necessary for our current programme for the future with enormously important savings and very many different measures," says Jan Meyer, Managing Director of Meyer Werft. "We have been able to win our new customer from Japan as a new customer in this extremely difficult global market situation and worldwide competition with the best ship concept, innovations, quality and a very challenging price for us. My thanks go to the entire staff and especially to the Sales & Design department, which has done a great job in this tense phase. This is the first order in the shipyard's 226-year history where all contract documents and plans were prepared and negotiated via video conferencing. The effort has paid off."

Imke Knoop, Head of Sales & Design: "The pandemic allows shipping companies all over the world to freely choose shipyard locations.. The challenge is to survive with our combination of design, quality, innovation and, of course, under ever-increasing price pressure in the face of worldwide, sometimes heavily subsidised, competition. The order has come just in time; so far only one new building has been in our halls for 2025."

"Of course we are delighted about the newbuilding order, but at the same time we have to push ahead with our future programme, continue to convert and optimise the shipyard so that we can also deliver the ship with economic success," explains Thomas Weigend, Managing Director of Meyer Werft. Thanks to this order, we now also have a second ship in the works in 2025, namely a small and a large ship. But it remains the case that we still have a lot of work missing for the year 2025. Our production in Papenburg is designed for an annual construction volume of 420,000 GT, but the two ships in 2025 have a total volume of only 182,000 GT."

"The current newbuilding order is not a turnaround from our difficult situation. In Papenburg we are designed for the series production of very large cruise ships," adds Jan Meyer. "Now we are building the prototype of a small ship without the option of sister ships. Therefore, it is to be classified as another step among many necessary measures. At the same time, it is also a positive signal: it is a completely new customer for Meyer Werft, we have asserted ourselves on a global market against global competition."

Technical data New building for NYK Group
Length: 228.86 metres
Width: 29.80 metres
Tonnage: 51,950 GT
Passenger cabins: 385 cabins
Capacity: 744 passengers
Crew: 470 Crew
Fuel: LNG propulsion

Costa Cruises makes changes in its top management

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 26 March 2021 26 March 2021

Costa Cruises announced on March 24 important changes in its organization, in order to prepare for the resumption of its cruises and its long-term growth.

Mario Zanetti (photo below) has been promoted to President of Costa Cruises, taking a role that had been temporarily filled by Michael Thamm, Group CEO, Costa Group & Carnival Asia. In his new position, Mario Zanetti will oversee Costa as a unique brand across the world, including Asia, with the aim of guiding Costa to strengthen its leadership in Europe, South America and Asia, and ensure profitable and sustainable growth in the long term.

At the same time, Roberto Alberti has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer of Costa Cruises, a position previously held by Mario Zanetti. Roberto Alberti will hold the responsibility of the overall commercial operations, including Sales, Revenue Management and Marketing worldwide, reporting to Mario Zanetti.

Both Mario Zanetti and Roberto Alberti will be based in Costa Cruises headquarters in Genoa.

“The pause in our ship operations has been an opportunity to work on enhancing the Costa organization to make our company stronger, ready for the restart with renewed energy, a clear commercial strategy and a greater customer-centric approach," said Michael Thamm, Group CEO, Costa Group and Carnival Asia. “We look to the future with optimism. With this new organization we have the right people and skills to succeed in developing innovative strategies to attract and retain our customers through every channel and every source market”.

Mario Zanetti has a long-standing experience in Costa, starting in 1999 in the Revenue Management unit, which he brought to excellence over the years. In 2017 he was named President of Costa Asia, where he demonstrated great leadership capabilities, turning Costa business around. Since July 2020 he has been back in Genoa, as Chief Commercial Officer of Costa Cruises Europe, showing sharp decision-making skills and vision, during these challenging months.

With a career in Costa Cruises spanning over 15 years, Roberto Alberti worked his way up through various positions of increasing responsibility in Italy and abroad. In 2016 he joined the CEO Office reporting to Michael Thamm, Group CEO Costa Group & Carnival Asia. After the position of VP Strategic Development, in 2019 he was appointed SVP & Chief Strategy Officer of the Costa Group contributing to the definition of a sustainable development plan, the global source market strategy and brand positioning.