Meyer Turku Shipyard has celebrated the float out of the primary ship being contracted and constructed completely beneath the possession of the Meyer household of Germany.

Mein Schiff 5 was floated out of the dry-dock throughout a snowy ceremony final Friday, January 15. Mein Schiff 5 is a sister ship of Mein Schiff 4, which was handed over to its proprietor TUI Cruises final spring.

The float-out and switch of the vessel from the dry dock to the outfitting pier marks a shift from the development part of the ship hull to the outfitting part. Ferdinand Strohmeyer, Vice President Operations of TUI Cruises and Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku, had been among the many folks collaborating within the opening of the dry dock valves.

“Step by step the good work of our team is coming together and the ship starts to look like a ship. Mein Schiff 4, the sister ship is well received by its guest – yet we cannot stand still and are implementing multiple improvements, big and small, on Mein Schiff 5 to further improve the guest experience. I’m confident that, once again, we will be able to deliver TUI Cruises a wonderful new cruise ship on time,” stated Jan Meyer.

TUI Cruises has expressed its satisfaction with how the work has progressed and with its continued good cooperation with Meyer Turku.

“Although this is meanwhile TUI Cruises’ third new build, it is still a long way from becoming routine. It’s always a great feeling the first time we see the ship afloat,” stated Ferdinand Strohmeier.

TUI Cruises ordered the Mein Schiff 5 in September 2014 as Meyer Werft finalized its buy of the Turku Shipyard (then named STX Finland Oy) from STX Europe. The shipyard was then renamed Meyer Turku Oy. The order for the brand new ship was positioned together with an order for Mein Schiff 6 as choices to TUI Cruises’ contract for Mein Schiff 3 and Mein Schiff 4 with STX Finland.

Meyer Werft initially acquired the Turku Shipyard along with the Finnish Government who agreed to a 30% stake. Meyer Werft later turned 100% proprietor in Meyer Turku Oy in April 2015.

When accomplished, the Mein Schiff 5 can be 295 meters lengthy and 36 meters broad, with particular consideration paid to vitality effectivity in its design and building. The cruise ship can have 1,267 cabins, of which roughly 90 p.c can be outer cabins and 82 p.c can have their very own balcony. The ship can even accommodate about 1,000 crew members.

Delivery of Mein Schiff 5 is predicted in the summertime of 2016.

TUI Cruises has since additionally returned to Meyer Turku for Mein Schiff 7 and Mein Schiff 8. The ships are scheduled for supply in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Under its new possession, Meyer Turku Oy has additionally secured an order for 2 ships from Carnival Corporation, in addition to a LNG-powered quick ferry for AS Tallink Grupp.