Meyer Turku Injecting Its Profit in Turku Yard

Finland-based shipbuilder Meyer Turku reported its third profitable year in a row, booking a net profit of EUR 32.2 million (USD 38 million) in 2017.

The company, owned by Meyer Verft, said it plans to use this profit to finance the EUR 200 million investment program of Turku shipyard.

The investment program includes a new 1,200-ton goliath crane, a steel pre-treatment and storage facility and several large-scale IT system investments.

The shipbuilder said the investments were urgently needed to replace the aging machines and that they were an opportunity to realize a higher capacity and productivity.

The revenue of the Meyer Turku Oy was EUR 807.7 million in 2017 compared EUR  787.5 million reported a year earlier.

“These good figures give us an opportunity to prepare for the coming years and a growing international competition. We are using these profits to finance the large-scale investments we urgently need to rebuild the Turku shipyard into a modern ship assembly factory and to train our personnel and to further grow our team of shipbuilders in Turku,” CEO of Meyer Turku Jan Meyer said.

The shipyard has also been actively recruiting new personnel, with its workforce growing from 1,614 from the end of 2016 to 1,854 by the end of the year 2017.

Meyer Turku delivered two ships in 2017, for the first time in decades.

In January the shipyard delivered LNG-powered fast ferry Megastar to Tallink and later in May fourth in a ship series, Mein Schiff 6, for German TUI Cruises.

“Due to the long orderbook reaching 2024, Meyer Turku will have growing revenues in the years to come. Yet due to the efforts and costs for the development of the shipyard, the profit margins will be lower but positive during this transition time,” the company said.

With regard to this year, in April, Meyer Turku delivered the New Mein Schiff 1 to TUI Cruises.

New Mein Schiff 2 is already under construction at the yard, with its keel laid in October 2017,  and it is scheduled to be delivered to its owner in early 2019.

Furthermore, TUI Cruises recently ordered a third sister ship to New Mein Schiff 1 & 2 for delivery from Turku in 2023, which will be called Mein Schiff 7.