As final approval from the German antitrust authorities arrived, Meyer Turku officially came into existence following its August acquisition.
The new owners of the once-troubled STX Finland yard are German family-owned shipbuilding group Meyer Werft (70 per cent), and state-controlled Finnish company Finland Industrial Investment (30 per cent).
As soon as the takeover was finalised, the yard received two newbuilding orders for the cruise ships 'Mein Schiff 5' and 'Mein Shiff 6' for delivery in 2016 and 2017. The orders bring an invaluable 10,00 man-hours of work to the yard.
The 99,000GT vessels are sister vessels to the 'Mein Schiff 3' and 'Mein Schiff 4'. Symbolically, 'Mein Schiff 3' was the last vessel delivered by the former STX Finland, whilst 'Mein Schiff 4' will be the first delivered by the rebranded Meyer Turku in mid-2015.
Operationally, Meyer Werft is responsible for the new company's operations and development. The Finnish component, for its part, will be a more silent party, providing capital and investment and possibly selling its share to Meyer Werft at a later date.
Although no organisational changes were announced, Dr Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Werft, will also assume a similar position at Meyer Turku.
Dr Meyer said the new yard had a lot of potential, especially in the highly competitive cruise ship market. Under the stewardship of Meyer Werft, the yard could collaborate with the company's other shipbuilding facilities and would seek to become increasingly productive.
Although Turku has built many types of ships in the past, it will focus on cruise ships, ferries and specialised vessels.
With a greater width than Meyer Werft's Papenburg yard, Turku is capable of building mega-sized ships such as the 2010-delivered 362-metre cruise ship 'Allure of the Seas' – one of the largest passenger vessels currently afloat.
Indeed, Meyer Turku has only a handful competitor yards capable of building the future behemoths of the ocean, such as former STX Europe compatriot STX France.
John Pagni
