Carnival Corporation orders two new ships from Meyer Turku

Meyer Turku (Finland) has signed a memorandum of agreement with the world’s largest cruise ship operator Carnival Corporation & plc for two new, 180 000 GT, cruise ships. The Ships will be built for Carnival Cruise Lines with delivery dates expected in 2020 and 2022. With the same agreement, Carnival Corporation & plc also orders one 180 000 GT cruise ship from Meyer Werft (Germany) for P&O Cruises, to be delivered in 2020.

All three ships will be Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) powered and will be based on the next-generation “green cruising” ship design developed with Carnival Corporation.

“We are proud to be at the forefront of introducing LNG-powered ships to the cruise industry, working with our partners to achieve shipbuilding breakthroughs like this that will help us produce the most efficient and sustainable ships we have ever built,” said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc.

Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku said: “We are very happy to work again with both Carnival Cruise Lines and P&O Cruises. In Turku we are also very excited as these ships will be the first ones to the get full benefit from our investments in next-generation production facilities and IT-systems. Another important aspect is the long-term horizon for our business. It creates an environment where we and also our suppliers can grow and develop. In the end this will lead to a lot of good work for us and other Finnish companies.”, Jan Meyer comments.

In conjunction with the order for Turku, the delivery of the 2nd ship for Costa Cruises will shift from 2020 to 2021.

Yet another push for the future of Meyer Turku

The new ships also represent a return for shipbuilding in Turku for Carnival Cruise Line and another push for the future of Meyer Turku shipyard. With the company’s extraordinarily long order book reaching now to 2022, Meyer Turku is growing with modern investments in facilities and people.

“Turku yard has over 200 years of proud heritage. Generations of shipbuilder have continuously pushed the boundaries of what is possible in technology and size. Now we are building a new and modern Turku yard. With our investments in next generation IT-supported production facilities, exceeding 75m€, we are working on a more data-driven production with unprecedented productivity. In order to fully unleash this productivity potential, our ship designers will work even closer with our production using effective processes and modern IT.

Modern facilities are important, yet even more important are the people. Since 2014 we have already created more than 350 jobs – and many more interesting challenges and opportunities lie ahead,” CEO of Meyer Turku Jan Meyer continues.