On March 21st, TUI Cruises celebrated at an official ceremony at Meyer Turku shipyard the traditional keel-laying of its newest vessel, Mein Schiff 7, which is due to be completed in 2024.
Wybcke Meier (TUI's CEO) said the keel laying of Mein Schiff 7 was an important step for them towards an even larger fleet. He added that by 2026, TUI would commission a couple of new ships in addition to Mein Schiff 7 and thus double the passenger capacity of its Mein Schiff fleet.
With the commissioning of Schiff 7, TUI also reached an important milestone in its climate work. The liner will use low-emission marine diesel oil (sulfur content: 0.1%) and will be equipped with catalysts (reducing the amount of nitrogen oxide by ~75%) and with a shore power connection.
In addition, Schiff 7 will be built in such a way that she can run on methanol and in the future on green methanol, making her use almost carbon neutral.
On Tuesday, March 21st, the keel-laying and the coin ceremony took place at Meyer Turku in Turku (Finland). As per the tradition, a crane lowered a steel block to the bottom of the construction pool in order to mark the start of assembling the hull of the newbuild. Lucky coins were placed under the block by representatives of the classification society DNV, Meyer Turku, and TUI Cruises.
The new Mein Schiff 7 is expected to be 1,035 feet (315 metres) long and is a sistership to a couple of earlier cruise ships built by Meyer Turku for TUI Cruises. Mein Schiff 7 is considered a major milestone in the efforts of the company to provide the first climate-neutral voyages by 2030.