Meyer Werft

Meyer Werft GmbH is one of the major German shipyards.  Founded in 1795 and starting with small wooden vessels, today Meyer Werft is one of world´s leading builders of luxury cruise ships. Headquartered in Papenburg at the river Ems.

MEYER WERFT builds its ships according to the so-called “Blockbuilding principle”. This means that prefabricated units are assembled to sections, many sections become a block, and the blocks become a ship – similiar to the toys of "Lego". The blocks are assembled and welded up to form the ship’s hull. A typical cruise ships comprises approx. 80 blocks.

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Float out.
The big ships are built under the roof of the building docks. Once a ship is completed, the dock is flooded until the ship has floated up, then it is ready to leave the building dock 


River Ems Conveyance
Due to its upstream location on the river Ems, the giant ships to be delivered have to make a 36 km voyage to the Dollart bay. The ships does make this voyage sailing backwards. It is easier to manoeuvre a ship backwards. The pods on the ship’s stern “shovel” water below the hull, which makes the river conveyance easier.

Project Sunshine
In February 2011, Meyer Werft signed a contract with Royal Caribbean International to build a new class of ship, code named "Project Sunshine" later to be called Quantum class ships. The first ship Quantum of the Seas is expected to enter service in 2014, with an second ship to be delivered in 2015.