2.1
The Builders - Meyer Werft, Papenburg
The Meyer Werft - Jos. L. Meyer GmbH - at Papenburg/Ems was founded already in 1795 and has been owned by the Meyer family ever since. During the last decades Meyer Werft has achieved an excellent reputation for the building of special-purpose vessels, in particular, passenger ships, luxury car/passenger ferries and Ro-Ro vessels.
Up to date more than 60 of the above types of vessels have been built by Meyer Werft. Furthermore, the Yard is specialised in the building of passenger-ships and gas carriers for the transport of liquid and chemical gases. Presently about 60 passengerships/ferries and 47 gas carriers have been delivered. Shiprepair activities are mainly concentrated on jumboizing and converting ferries, passenger ships, freighters, and tankers. In addition, the Yard is the world's leader in converting freighters and tankers into livestock carriers. Up to now 25 vessels of this type have been converted for the transport of sheep and cows as well as camels and horses. Apart from the above-mentioned activities the Meyer Werft is also engaged in structural construction and engine building, which includes the fabrication of pressure tanks and special aluminium constructions. In 1975 a new shipyard was built which belongs to the most modern in Europe. In November 1987 the largest graving dock under roof was inaugurated which had to be lengthened by 100 m already in 1990/91. Presently about 2000 staff are employed.
So far the Yard has built respectively has under construction/on order:
Cruise vessels 16
Cruise ferries 1
Passenger vessels 20
Car/passenger ferries 30
Ro-Ro vessels 7
Gas carriers 47
Livestock carriers 26It is obvious that survival in a very competitive, tough market was and is only possible by fine workmanship and delivery according to promise. For this the Meyer Werft is well known. The "Reference Lists for Ferries and Gastankers" - attached as Enclosures 2.1.1 / 2.1.2 - confirm this.
On this basis, as well as having very good relationships to Sweden and Finland, the Meyer Werft has succeeded since 1969 in obtaining orders to build a series of car/passenger ferries for AB Slite/Stockholm and AB Sally/ Mariehamn and - apart from the guarantee disputes usual for technically complicated newbuildings - delivering these to the entire satisfaction of the buyers.
All these vessels - except for the last one: SILJA EUROPA - have been employed in the Viking Line Service, either between Turku - Mariehamn - Stockholm or between Helsinki and Stockholm. This service was then operated by a consortium consisting of the Swedish AB Slite as well as the Finnish companies AB Sally and SF-Line.
The first ferry of these series by the name APOLLO was delivered in 1970 to AB Slite, followed by MV DIANA for the same owners, and VIKING 1, 3, 4 and 5 for AB Sally.
The third partner of the Viking Line consortium, SF-Line, ordered their newbuildings with other yards, e.g. the TURELLA was built by Sietas Yard, Hamburg and other ferries were built in Yugoslavia as well as by the then Wärtsilä Yard in Turku, Finland (e.g. MARIELLA).
All of the vessels built by Meyer Werft for AB Slite and AB Sally were classed by Bureau Veritas (B.V.) and built under the supervision of the respective National Shipping Administration, i.e. for the Slite vessels the Swedish Sjöfartsverket and for the AB Sally vessels the Finnish Sjöfarts-styrelsen, the Finnish Board of Navigation (F.B.N.). The 6 ferries were sister vessels, apart from VIKING 5 which had the same breadth but was 13.8 m longer. All vessels were constructed with visor, bow and stern ramps.
The building files of Meyer Werft reveal that due to the continued close co-operation lasting for years between the Yard, supervisors of owners as well as representatives of class and Sjöfartsverket respectively F.B.N. a relationship of confidence had developed between the participating persons.
On behalf of Bureau Veritas this was their inspector Günther Lohmann, who was engaged with Meyer Werft newbuildings for many years, whilst Sjöfartsverket was represented by the then Rotterdam office manager, H. Sjöholm and the representatives for F.B.N. were Gunnar Edelmann (shipbuilding matters/stability), Pertti Haatainen (lifesaving) and Jan Jansson (fire-fighting).
All 6 vessels had the connection visor/bow ramp, i.e. the upper part of the closed bow ramp extended into a box-shaped structure on the forecastle which was part of the visor. None of the vessels had the upper extension of the collision bulkhead above the bulkhead deck, i.e. the car deck, installed at the location which was required by SOLAS since 1948, but the weathertight bow ramp was generally considered to be the extension of the collision bulkhead.
Despite this deviation from the wording of SOLAS all these vessels, as well as more than 30 other ferries constructed similarly, were fully accepted by the Classification Societies and by the Maritime Administrations of the Nordic countries. According to the findings of the JAIC this practice was well known to insiders as the 'General Scandinavian Practice'.