The German cruise line TUI Cruises has celebrated the keel laying for its new cruise ship Mein Schiff 7, marking a significant milestone in the construction of the vessel.

Mein Schiff 7 is due for delivery in 2024, and as the name suggests, will be the seventh vessel in the TUI fleet, a sister ship to Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2 at 111,000-gross tons.

The ship was ordered in 2021 and construction started on June 14th, 2022 with her steel cutting, now the keel laying marks the beginning of assembly, wherein pre-built steel blocks and welded together to form the hull and superstructure of the vessel.

Mein Schiff 7

“The keel laying of Mein Schiff 7 is an important step for us towards an even larger fleet,” said Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises. “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),” she added. “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 the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, with a crane lowering a steel block to the bottom of the construction pool to mark the start of assembling the ship’s hull.

Tim Meyer, CEO, Meyer Turku with Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises

In keeping with maritime tradition, specially commissioned 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,” said Tim Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku.

“With the laying of the keel, the first quarter of the construction work has been completed,” he added.

TUI Cruises is jointly owned by the travel conglomerate TUI Group and Royal Caribbean Group, the parent company of Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Silversea and part ownership of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.