Germany: Head of Meyer Werft Hopes to Meet New Suppliers at Seatrade Europe

Interview with Mr. Ralf Sempf, Head of Materials Management / Purchasing and Member of the Board of Management of Meyer Werft, Papenburg

Meyer Werft has earned an outstanding reputation in cruise shipbuilding. Since entering this market in the 1980s, the yard has built 30 luxury ships for customers from all over the world. The creation of these ocean giants calls for a great deal of design creativity, and the shipyards are dependent on a network of high-quality equipment suppliers.

How many suppliers are generally needed per cruise ship build?

Between 600-800 suppliers are involved in the building of a cruise ship. Our own share of the cost of building these highly complex vessels is only about 25% nowadays – the equipment suppliers account for around 75% of the cost of building a new cruise ship. As well as procurement directly related to the ship, we also work with many more suppliers, more than 2000 companies, who provide us with goods and services.

How big is your current order book, and what does it contain?

Our order book currently comprises nine large cruise ships for five ship-owners, with deliveries up to spring 2015. We are currently the world market leader in the cruise ship segment, with a market share of more than 50%. We also have a very technically-sophisticated gas carrier on our order books. The order book of Neptun Werft also includes, among other vessels, six river cruise ships and one ferry. The total order book value of the group is currently around €5.5 billion.

What are the criteria you apply when looking for suppliers? What role does global and regional purchasing play in that?

Regional, national and international partners are all vitally important for us. We currently have a turnover of about €200 million with companies within a 150km radius of our shipyard. The importance of suppliers from our own region is apparent from the fact that this year we are already holding our fourth ‘Meyer Werft Regional Meeting’, where we invite regional companies to present their products and services as potential new partners of the shipyard, alongside our existing suppliers.

We are also naturally very dependent on a functioning network of national and international suppliers. A company like Meyer Werft has to think globally in its purchasing strategy to be successful. We buy 20-25% of our procurement volume from outside of Germany, with the main focus on procurement in European countries, and less in other regions such as Asia Pacific.

Our suppliers come from a wide range of industry sectors, craft trades and trading companies.

Think of a cruise ship as a kind of floating city, with all the infrastructural facilities that involves. That means energy supply, hotel operation, a wide range of restaurants, conference centres, large theatres for 1000+ audiences, kitchens half the size of a football field, spa centres and sports facilities, and of course waste disposal facilities such as fully organic treatment systems etc. Nearly everything you would need for the building of a new town is also required for a cruise ship. In other words, the range of what we buy is extremely varied.

It was Meyer Werft’s idea to run a Supplier Workshop, with their Chief Buyers as well as those from other leading cruise shipbuilding yards Fincantieri and STX France, at the Seatrade Europe Cruise & Rivercruise Convention this year. Why?

We have had excellent experience in Papenburg with the Supplier Workshops we have held there, both at our Regional Meetings and at special project-related workshops. So, it is a natural progression to use this convention, which specifically addresses maritime industry companies involved with ocean and river cruise ships, as a platform to cultivate existing contacts and generate new ones.

Of course it would have been interesting to use this event exclusively as a platform for Meyer Werft – but our purpose at this event is to give potential new suppliers, as well as suppliers with whom we already have business contact, a chance to meet the buyers of all the leading European shipyards in this specific segment. We believe it is an outstanding opportunity for every company already engaged in this exciting business, or wishing to get involved in it.

What is the target group for this workshop, and what opportunities could arise for companies taking part?

The workshop targets all companies that have established themselves or wish to establish themselves in our very specific segment of ocean and river cruise ships, with the main focus on interior finishing, wall and ceiling systems, sound & light, lamps, floor coverings, fabrics (e.g. curtains), kitchen facilities, laundry equipment, lifts, ships’ windows, locking systems, refrigerated rooms for provisions etc. It is practically impossible to give an exhaustive list.

They all have the rather unusual opportunity to present themselves and their products and services directly to the responsible buyers of the world’s leading shipyards in the ocean and river cruise ship industry. I expect many companies to seize this opportunity and look forward to interesting talk during the ‘speed-date’ meeting programme.

Industry to come together in Hamburg

Seatrade Europe is expected to attract more than 250 exhibitors from 50 nations, including shipyards, ship suppliers, classification companies, cruise terminals, tourism organisations and tour operators to the modern Hamburg Messe from 27-29 September 2011. The event incorporates a high-level conference, exhibition, travel agent programme and social events.

Seatrade Europe 2011 is sponsored by Deerberg-Systems GmbH, Ecolab Deutschland GmbH, Fidelio Cruise Software GmbH, Hobart GmbH, Passenger Port of St. Petersburg “Marine Façade” and SeaConsult HAM GmbH and supported by the Association of Cruise Experts (ACE), Cruise Europe, the European Cruise Council (ECC), IG RiverCruise, the Passenger Shipping Association (PSA) and Verband Deutscher Schiffsausrüster.

The event is organised by Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH and Seatrade Communications Limited.

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Source: seatrade-europe, July 6, 2011.