MEYER WERFT NABS THE COVETED
RCCL CRUISE SHIP CONTRACT FROM
STX TURKU – AND THAT’S JUST
THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG
The balance of power in Baltic Sea
shipbuilding is shifting. The Turku
shipyard in Southwest Finland,
which has been floating out one
grand cruise ship after another for
decades, was recently sidelined
by its most important client. After
building Oasis of the Seas and
Allure of the Seas, the world’s
biggest and finest cruise ships for
Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd (RCCL)
the Turku yard was searching for
some reassurance from RCCL that
something big would eventually
come their way. Unfortunately,
RCCL announced “the age of
giants” to be over – the two Oasisclass behemoths would be plenty
for the cruise line, at least for the
time being.
N
evertheless, the Finns believed that
they would still be a strong candi-
date to build the next generation of ships
that RCCL was interesting in. In the bidding race, there were two equally formidable candidates: STX Turku and Meyer
Werft. The German shipbuilder also had
a long-spanning relationship with RCCL,
with over 20 years of cooperation between
the two.
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