TUI Cruises celebrated the traditional keel-laying and coin ceremony of its newest ship, the Mein Schiff 7 to be completed in 2024.

Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises said: “The keel laying of Mein Schiff 7 is an important step for us towards an even larger fleet. By 2026, TUI Cruises will commission two new ships in addition to Mein Schiff 7 and double the passenger capacity of the Mein Schiff fleet. With the commissioning of Mein Schiff 7, TUI Cruises also reaches an important milestone in its climate work.

“The company’s ambitious plan was recently confirmed by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). Mein Schiff 7 will use low-emission marine diesel oil (sulfur content: 0.1 percent) and will be equipped with catalysts (which reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide by about 75 percent) and with shore power connection. In addition, the ship will be built in such a way that it can run on methanol and in the future on green methanol, which makes the use of the ship almost carbon neutral.”

The keel-laying and the coin ceremony took place at Meyer Turku shipyard on Tuesday, March 21. As per the traditions, a crane lowered a steel block to the bottom of the construction pool to mark the start of assembling the ship’s hull. Also, lucky coins were placed under the block by representatives of TUI Cruises, the classification society DNV and Meyer Turku.

“We are very happy that the first block of the ship was laid as planned and we look forward to the other milestones ahead of us. With the laying of the keel, the first quarter of the construction work has been completed. Mein Schiff 7, which will be delivered in 2024, is a sister ship to Mein Schiff 1 (2018) and Mein Schiff 2 (2019). From ship to ship, in cooperation with TUI Cruises, onboard features have been developed from the perspective of both passengers and sustainable development,” says Tim Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku.