German shipyard Meyer Werft has signed a contract with Japan’s NYK Cruises for the construction of an LNG-fuelled cruise ship – the first newbuilding order for a cruise vessel since the pandemic.
Meyer Werft said the order for the ‘relatively small’ 51,950 GT vessel was an ‘important step’ towards securing its Papenburg site.
‘New orders are absolutely necessary for our current programme for the future with enormously important savings and very many different measures,’ said Jan Meyer, Managing Director of Meyer Werft. ‘We have been able to win our new customer from Japan as a new customer in this extremely difficult global market situation and worldwide competition with the best ship concept, innovations, quality and a very challenging price for us.’
Werft noted that it was the first order in the shipyard's 226-year history where all contract documents and plans were prepared and negotiated via video conferencing.
The cruise segment has been one of the hardest hit sectors since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic last year. As previously reported, in December 2020, Cruise Lines International Association estimated that the suspension of cruise operations between mid-March and September 2020 had resulted in a loss of more than $77 billion in global economic activity, some 518,000 jobs and $23 billion in wages.
This uncertainty will have also translated to the shipbuilding sector.
‘Of course, we are delighted about the newbuilding order, but at the same time we have to push ahead with our future programme, continue to convert and optimise the shipyard so that we can also deliver the ship with economic success,’ said Thomas Weigend, Managing Director of Meyer Werft.
‘Thanks to this order, we now also have a second ship in the works in 2025, namely a small and a large ship. But it remains the case that we still have a lot of work missing for the year 2025. Our production in Papenburg is designed for an annual construction volume of 420,000 GT, but the two ships in 2025 have a total volume of only 182,000 GT.’
Jan Meyer added: ‘The current newbuilding order is not a turnaround from our difficult situation. In Papenburg we are designed for the series production of very large cruise ships. Now we are building the prototype of a small ship without the option of sister ships.
‘Therefore, it is to be classified as another step among many necessary measures. At the same time, it is also a positive signal: it is a completely new customer for Meyer Werft, we have asserted ourselves on a global market against global competition.’
The LNG-fuelled newbuilding for NYK Cruises is scheduled for delivery in 2025.
