Meyer Werft

Meyer Werft GmbH
Private
Industry Shipbuilding
Founded 1795
Headquarters Papenburg, Germany
Key people
 Bernard Meyer, CEO
Products cruise ships
tankers
livestock carriers
ferries
research vessels
Number of employees
 ~5,150 (2015)
Parent Meyer Neptun Group
Website www.meyerwerft.com

The Meyer Werft GmbH is one of the major German shipyards, headquartered in Papenburg at the river Ems. Founded in 1795 and starting with small wooden vessels, today Meyer Werft is one of world's leading builders of luxury passenger ships. Altogether about 700 ships of different types have been built at the yard. Its "Dockhalle 2" is the largest shipbuilding hall and the building with the fifth largest usable space in the world.

Meyer Werft has been owned and managed by the Meyer family for six generations. Since 1997, it has been part of the Meyer Neptun Group together with Neptun Werft in Rostock.

The shipyard is an anchor on the European Route of Industrial Heritage. [1]

History

The shipyard was founded at the beginning of 1795 by Willm Rolf Meyer as a wharf for the construction of small wooden vessels. Josef Lambert Meyer started the construction of iron ships in 1874.[2] Until 1920 there were more than 20 dockyards in the Papenburg area. Today, Meyer Werft is the only remaining shipyard in Papenburg. For more than six generations, it has been a privately held and family-owned company.

Company

Meyer Werft gained international recognition through the construction of roll on/roll off ferries, passenger ferries, gasoline tankers, container ships, livestock ferries and most recently luxury cruise ships.

Meyer is one of the largest and most modern shipyards in the world with 2500 employees, and home to the largest roofed dry docks in the world. The first covered dock was inaugurated in 1987 and was 370 meters long, 101,5 meters wide and 60 meters high. In 1990/91 the dock was extended by an additional 100 meters. In 2004, a second covered dock was built, which is announced to be extended to a full length of 504 meters, a width of 125 meters and height of 75 meters in order to compete with Asian shipyards. Meyer Werft will as a result of this be able to build three cruise ships a year.[3] 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 and which each time attracts thousands of spectators. Up until the completion of the Ems river barrier ("Emssperrwerk") in 2002, the journey was only possible at high tides.

In August 2014, Meyer Werft and the Government of Finland agreed to acquire STX Finland and the Turku shipyard from STX Europe (STX Finland's other shipyards in Helsinki and Rauma were previously sold to other buyers). The Turku shipyard is an important builder of cruise ships, and five of the 10 largest cruise ships in the world have been built there. The shipyard, which will be 70% owned by Meyer Werft and 30% owned by the state-owned Finnish Industry Investment, will be renamed from STX Finland Oy to Meyer Turku Oy.[4][5][6]

As of 2014, current cruise liner projects include the Quantum class of cruise ships for Royal Caribbean International and the Breakaway Plus class of ships for Norwegian Cruise Line.

In April 2015, Meyer Werft decided to acquire the last 30% of Meyer Turku Oy from Finnish Industry Investment.

Ships built at Meyer Werft GmbH

Dockhalle 1 of the Meyer Werft, with the research vessel RV Sonne under construction.

A large variety of ships have been built at Meyer Werft, including car carriers, cargo ships, container ships, cruise ships, ferries, fishing vessels, gas carriers, lightvessels, paddlesteamers, passenger ships and Seebäderschiffs.

List of shipyards

References

Hans Jürgen Witthöft, Meyer Werft- Innovative shipbuilding from Papenburg, Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg

  1. ↑ "ERIH Entry: Meyer Shipyard". European Route of Industrial Heritage. 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  2. ↑ MEYER WERFT GmbH. "Triton".
  3. ↑ "Meyer Werft baut größte Dockhalle der Welt". Spiegelonline. 2008-01-18. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  4. ↑ MEYER WERFT GmbH. "Press Release".
  5. ↑ "Valtio ja Meyer Werft ostavat Turun telakan - kauppahinta ei julkinen". ts.fi.
  6. ↑ MEYER WERFT GmbH. "Press Release".
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Coordinates: 53°05′55″N 7°21′59″E / 53.09861°N 7.36639°E / 53.09861; 7.36639

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