New ship for Dream Cruises
The Meyer Werft in Papenburg has now also officially laid the keel for the cruise ship Genting Dream with yard number S.711 in the covered building dock II. Tan Sri Lim, Chairman of Genting Bhd, joined Bernard Meyer in placing the lucky coin on the bracings before the 800 ton crane lowered the first block of the second building phase for the new ship. The first building phase already left the dock during the previous weekend. The official start for the construction of S.711 had been postponed to this date because of conflicting time constraints. "We are glad to see that our first newbuild for our new brand Dream Cruises is now starting to take shape. The ship will offer many special features for the Chinese market", says Tan Sri Lim.
This block is one of altogether 92 blocks for the new luxury liner and weighs altogether 740 tons. The keel laying ceremony also marks the official start of construction for the Genting Dream, which will be the largest cruise ship for the Dream Cruises shipping company, with a gross tonnage of 151,300 GRT.
The first big steel parts for the Genting Dream were cut to size in the MEYER WERFT Laser Center already back in February 2015. The ship will be handed over to the shipping company in autumn 2016, followed by another ship in 2017.
In future, the new Dream Cruises ships will offer capacity for about 3,300 passengers. The ships are 335 meters long, 39.7 meters wide and can reach a speed of more than 23 knots. The new cruise ships have been designed especially for the rapidly developing Asian cruise market.
The management and project teams from Dream Cruises and the Meyer Werft attended the short ceremony held to mark the laying of the keel in building dock II. "It is our great pleasure to build these new ships for the new shipping company and to continue our long-standing business relationship with Genting Bhd, which began nearly 20 years ago with the construction of the SuperStar Leo", says CEO Bernard Meyer.
Photo : Laying the keel for "Genting Dream"
