Great shipyard streak in Papenburg: Meyer Werft seeks 250 employees

The German shipyard Meyer Werft will soon hand over the world's first luxury cruise ship powered by liquefied natural gas. The company boasts that it enjoys a good prosperity on the cruise ship market. The company has a full portfolio of orders for the next few years and is looking for several hundred new employees.

One of the most important events of this year's cruise ship industry was the extremely spectacular baptism of the innovative AIDAnova unit. It is the world's first cruise ship powered by only low-carbon liquefied natural gas. It was built by the German shipyard Meyer Werft of Papenburg, although other companies from the Meyer Group, e.g. the Neptune Werft shipyard of Rostock, which built part of the hull blocks, were also involved in the production.

The revolutionary AIDAnova ship in June 2015 was contracted by Carnival Corporation, which owns the AIDA Cruises cruise line. The sheet cutting began in February 2017, and the keel was laid in September. The ship cost almost a billion dollars (about 950 million). The ship was baptized on 31 August this year. On this occasion, the Meyer Werft shipyard authorities organized a great holiday that attracted 50,000 people to Papenburg.

On last Monday, the AIDAnova ship began voyage Dutch port of Eemshaven. There, it will be equipped with the last elements, and then it will begin sea trials. If they are successful, the schedule assumes that on 15 November at Bremerhaven AIDA Cruises will pick up a finished ship that will sail on a maiden voyage to the Canary Islands.

It is a powerful unit with a length of 337 m and a width of 42 m. Its buoyancy is 180,000 tons. There are 2,6 thousand passenger cabins on board. The crew of the ship and the crew of the ship will be 1.4 thousand people.

AIDAnova is the first of three new generation cruise ships ordered for AIDA Cruises. By 2023, the German shipyard Meyer Werft will build two more.

The heads of the shipyard in Papenburg are optimistic. The company is in an excellent position and its order portfolio for the coming years is full. According to our information, by 2023 Meyer Werft will provide customers with 14 cruise ships of various sizes. The largest ships will have a buoyancy of nearly 184,000 tons. Interestingly, all units that will leave the yard from 2021 will be supplied with liquefied natural gas. The last order obtained by the shipyard came from a few days ago. On 8 October, Royal Caribbean Cruises, which owns the Silversea cruise line, signed a cooperation agreement with Meyer Werft to build two Evolution class cruise ships. The first one is to be delivered in 2022. The detailed terms of the contract are still being negotiated and will be known in the spring.

The full portfolio of contracts entails the need to increase employment at the shipyard. The company's authorities ensure that the contracts already obtained and a number of negotiations carried out make it possible for new employees to be guaranteed employment by at least 2030. The shipyard and other companies in the Meyer Group intend to employ around 250 employees. Qualified specialists with various specialties are wanted, including welders, electricians, crane operators, as well as engineers and designers. Meyer is also looking for IT specialists, as it is already working on the implementation of new IT tools.

Detailed information on job offers at Meyer Werft shipyard and other companies from Meyer Group can be found at: www.meyercareer.com.

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