Meyer Turku today held the coin ceremony to officially mark the start of the hull assembly for the new Costa Smeralda.

The ceremony is also a historical moment at Meyer Turku as the Costa Smeralda is the largest newbuilding in years, and will be powered by LNG when she is delivered last next year.

“We are on the midpoint of our current ramp up project with the new crane and several other investments already in place and almost 700 new shipbuilders compared to 2014 when we came to Turku,” said CEO of Meyer Turku Jan Meyer.

During the ceremony, commemorative coins were positioned along the keel of the ship as a symbol of good fortune for members of the crew, passengers and future voyages. This symbolic moment, which is part of shipbuilding tradition, was celebrated with an event attended by the senior management of Costa Cruises and the Meyer Turku shipyard. Elisabetta Moraci, a 28-year-old Italian from Messina that is a second deck officer in the Costa fleet, served as godmother of the event.

“We are particularly excited to be celebrating this symbolic moment for our new ship. Costa Smeralda represents a real innovation for the international market and an important step toward setting new standards for the entire sector,” added Michael Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group and Carnival Asia.

At the coin ceremony there was already a large part of the ship lying in the dry dock as a 140 meter long floating engine room unit (FERU) was towed to Turku earlier last week from Meyer’s Neptun Werft, Germany.

“The floating engine room unit is part of our group strategy where we try to find synergies between the three shipyards. Building these at Neptun Werft also eases the ramp up of Meyer Turku and is a showcase of the good collaboration we have among our shipyards,” noted Meyer.