duo” that can handle just about any cruise
ship order – or an entire series. Case in
point: Meyer Turku handed over Mein Schiff
4 to TUI Cruises on May 8 (actually making
it the first delivery with Meyer Werft as the
sole owner) and the keel laying ceremony
for Mein Schiff 5 will take place in June –
as the production of Mein Schiff 6 will start.
From the looks of it, Turku and Papenburg
are putting out ships like hamburgers and
order books are getting fat.
The effectiveness and quality-orientation of Turku shipyard is what attracted the
Germans in the first place. “While the shipyard’s technical assets and facilities are ageing, the crew working at the yard is worldclass,” Jan Meyer believes.
“We saw people that were passionate and professional about shipbuilding.
Put together with our Papenburg shipyard,
we felt that this was a great combination
for future success.”
Arriving in Turku, the Germans
found that Turku shipyard shared the
same emphasis on making the best possible product. There were differences in the
processes, sure, but this was perceived as
an opportunity to learn:
“We felt – and still do – that we can
have the best of both worlds.”
COMMON GROUND
Also, there has been no real culture clash
to speak of. Germans and Finns seem quite
similar in the sense that they focus on the
business at hand and work hard to overcome problems and get results.
“I keep hearing that Finns are very
quiet, but people don’t talk very much
where I come from in Germany, either,”
Meyer laughs. As Meyer Werft had previously used Finnish subcontractors for a
long, long time, there was already some
familiarity with the Finnish mentality –
so this acquisition was no leap into total
unknown.
But what about the reputation of
both Germany and Finland as technologyoriented and engineer-driven? - Jan Meyer
admits that Germany’s industrial roots run
deep, but he still feels that the engineering mindset is stronger in Finl