A small German town on the river Ems hides one of Europe’s largest and most advanced shipyards – the Meyer Werft. The shipyard, now in the hands of the seventh generation of the Meyer family, employs 3,450 people and produces four vessels per year on average. Everyone can see how ships come to life, as some 300,000 curious fans visit this fascinating place every year to walk the observation decks of the construction docks. Since its founding more than 200 years ago, the shipyard has built approximately 700 vessels of various types and sizes. But ships are not the only thing that the unassuming Saxon town churns out in staggering numbers. With entertainment being a major factor on board cruise ships, Meyer Werft just so happens to be Germany’s largest builder of theaters. Read on to find out what else this remarkable shipyard is best at.

Birth of a World-Class Shipbuilder

The Meyer Werft was founded in 1795 in Papenburg. The location was anything but random – the obscure town on the Ems had recently become a major procurement point in the Seven Years’ War, with one out of every four residents engaged in shipbuilding. The first wave of the industrial revolution soon after made wooden ships obsolete and paved the way for the company’s new fleet of steamers. It was 1860 when Joseph L. Meyer, taking over the business from his father, insisted that it was high time the shipyard turned to iron-hulled steamers. His vision for the future was met with skepticism by the citizens of Papenburg, many insisting that iron would never float in water. Dismissing the anecdotal evidence supplied, Joseph went on with his plans and in 1873 saw to the construction of Meyer Werft’s first three iron merchant vessels. Two years later, the shipyard delivered its first iron passenger ship, the Triton. In the recession years that followed, while many other shipyards were closing down, numerous steel ships emerged from the Meyer Werft, amongst them the famous steamers Prinz Heinrich and Graf Goetzen.

Between the two world wars, the shipyard specialized in fishing steamers, pilot boats, lightships, as well as coastal cruisers. After the Second World War and up to the end of the 1970s, the shipyard shifted its focus to gas tankers, RoRo ferries, container ships, and various other merchant vessels.

The Rise of the Mega Cruise Ship

Meyer only made its first steps in the luxury cruise liners in the 1980s – a surprising fact, considering the company’s current reputation in this sector. The first to come out of this new venture was the Homeric. She was launched in 1985 and delivered to her owner Home Lines in just two years – a record construction time for a vessel 204 m long, 19 m wide, and with gross tonnage of 47,000 GT. She could accommodate 1,132 passengers in her 552 cabins. With the success of the Homeric, Meyer Werft made a notable debut in the difficult and technically demanding cruise ship industry. In the 35 years that followed, it built more than 40 cruise ships, each one larger and more technologically impressive than the previous.

A look at one of the more recent gems of the Meyer Werft – the beautiful AIDAnova – can give us a good idea how much cruise ships have grown in size since the 1980s. With gross tonnage of 183,858 GT, the AIDAnova is nearly four times larger than the Homeric and also the largest passenger ship built in Germany to date. She has a length of 337 m, a beam of 42 m, and can take six times more passengers in her cabins than Meyer’s first cruise ship. But the AIDAnova is not a milestone for the Papenburg shipyard based on size alone. She is the first cruise ship in the world to be powered entirely by liquefied natural gas (LNG) – a novel source of propulsion with reduced emissions.

Another recent curiosity that came out of the Meyer Weft is the World Dream, completed in 2017. Designed to cater to the Asian cruise market, she offers lavish interior design and an extensive range of entertainment options. But what makes her curious are the two four-seat, deep-sea submarines on board, ready to take the more adventurous passengers 200 m beneath the surface of the ocean. She is also the first cruise ship to carry an MRI scanner on board, although how this should enhance your spa experience, remains a mystery to me!  

Facilities and Logistics

To meet the constant demand for bigger vessels and stay competitive with other shipbuilders in the market, Meyer Werft’s had no choice but to keep expanding its facilities. In 1987, the company opened the largest roofed construction dock of its time. The hall measured 270 m in length, 101.5 m in width, and 60 m in height. A few years later, additional 100 m were added to the hall’s length, with the construction dock inside now reaching 358 m. A second roofed construction hall was built ten years later – 384 m long, 125 m wide, and 75 m high. In 2007, construction began to extend the second hall to 504 m in length, the dock inside reaching 362 m – a new world record.

All areas of activity in the shipyard are equipped with the latest computer technology – from design to construction and manufacturing. The old process of building from blueprints has long been replaced by computer models. In fact, almost the entire manufacturing process is now digitized, meaning that ships can be planned virtually, and the assembly processes can be tested in advance. 3D simulation allows engineers to experiment with numerous ideas and assess their feasibility at the earliest planning stages. The result is fewer construction errors, leading to production efficiency, as well as savings of both time and costs.

Computer-based models are also the foundation of the giant shipyard’s logistical system, minimizing storage space and operating costs. A material-flow control system monitors everything that enters and leaves the shipyard, ensuring that each component of the ship is at the right place at the right time.

Block Construction

Ships at the Meyer Weft are assembled with the latest block-construction techniques. This means that small parts are first prefabricated and assembled into larger units. Individual steel plates are coated with corrosion protection, cut to size, and welded together to form panels, the entire process happening in an automated panel line. The cut steel plates are joined with different profiles, beams, and side walls, to form sections, to which piping and electrical wiring is then mounted. Approximately eight to ten such sections form one block, with about 70 of these blocks making up one complete cruise ship. Once the blocks are ready, their steel plates are welded together, also joining their cables and pipes, to give shape to the new ship.

The Meyer Werft is home to Europe’s largest laser center, used for steel cutting and welding. In addition, eight floor-mounted lasers ensure the precise alignment of blocks in the construction dock, indicating even the smallest unevenness. Detectors in the ceiling above monitor the position of the laser beams in relation to the block being adjusted, transmitting the data to a computer, on which engineers monitor the precision. When all lasers are aligned to perfection with their target block position, joining of the blocks may start. This newly developed system allows for faster and more precise assembly of the blocks.

Nothing is Impossible

Take your pick – whether you want two submarines and an MRI scanner on board, or you prefer your ship to run on a new type of fuel, whether you need a modest freighter or a floating amusement park, the Meyer Werft is well prepared to accommodate your visions and desires. Past decades have shown it again and again – this is one shipyard that knows no limits and is not afraid to be the first.

See you next week! 

The Shipyard