MV Werften Boosts Shipbuilding Capacity

German builder of large cruise ships MV Werften, bought by Genting Hong Kong Limited in 2016, has put into operation a new welding plant at its Rostock yard.

“The new plant enables us to make a significant increase in the capacity of our steel prefabrication for the Global cruise ships in Rostock and take a further, important step towards Industry 4.0. It is one of the most innovative laser-hybrid panel lines in Europe and also unique, as it is specially tailored to our processes and the Global Class,” explained Peter Fetten, CEO of MV Werften.

The semi-automatic plant is the heart of the 400-meter long hall area 11.1 and the entire steel prefabrication at the yard. Panels measuring up to 25 x 16 meters will be produced with it.

Its features include a one-sided butt welding station with laser-hybrid welding head and additional MAG tandem welding heads with integrated milling, automated profile assembling with two-sided fillet welding of profiles using the laser-hybrid process and programmable robot portals.

Jaakko Heikonen, CEO of automation provider Pemamek, said that the plant’s technology is perfectly tailored to meet the production requirements for the Global Class cruise vessels and will provide an important basis for the shipyards’ future growth.

The German Federal State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the German Federal Government granted EUR 6 million in support of the production plant’s construction.

The plant forms part of an overall investment program in a shipbuilding complex worth EUR 100 million, which will include development of three halls comprising 25 workstations and employment for 150 workers.

The Rostock site will manufacture 80 large sections per ship of the 342-metre long Global Class mega passenger ships, being built for the Hong Kong-based cruise line Star Cruises.

The two Global Class vessels, which will feature 204,000 tons each, will operate in China and all over Asia. The ocean-going giants are scheduled for delivery in 2020 and 2021.