Royal Caribbean Group signed a new partnership with the Finnish government and the Meyer Turku shipyard following the successful reveal of the Icon of the Seas, which will debut in January 2024.
The partnership sets forth several initiatives, focused mainly on developing Finland into an international powerhouse for innovative shipbuilding, including creating a climate-neutral cruise ship by 2035.
Royal Caribbean New Partnership with Finland & Meyer Turku
With Icon of the Seas, the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland is building the largest cruise ship ever constructed. The cruise ship was floated out earlier this week. Following that momentous occasion, the Royal Caribbean Group announced a new partnership with the Finnish government and the Meyer Turku shipyard.
“Our partners in Finland have helped us deliver some of the world’s most impressive and sustainable ships of their time, including our newest ship debuting in January 2024, Icon of the Seas,” said Jason Liberty, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group.
“This new partnership sets the stage for future innovations and allows us and the maritime industry to continue pursuing sustainability at the highest level.”
In the new partnership, the Royal Caribbean Group, the Finnish government, and the Meyer Turku shipyard will work together to prepare for the production of climate-neutral cruise ships in Finland. This is an integral part of Royal Caribbean’s commitment to becoming a net-zero cruise company by the year 2050.
It will also open up possibilities for the Meyer Turku shipyard to test innovations and technologies on Royal Caribbean Group ships. The three parties hope to achieve a reduction of carbon intensity by double digits by 2025 compared to 2019 and the introduction of a net-zero cruise ship by 2035.
“While expertise and interdisciplinary collaboration will always be key to the success of shipbuilding, we recognize the need to continuously evolve and create strategies to reduce carbon emissions toward net zero,” said Tim Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku Oy.
“This commitment will set us up, as an industry, to innovate and adapt in how we design, build and operate ships. This challenge presents significant opportunities for the Finnish maritime industry to take the lead globally and bring to market new technologies and products.”
At Least Three Cruise Ships to Follow Icon of the Seas
The cooperation between the three parties comes from the considerable investment that the Royal Caribbean Group has made in the Finnish shipbuilding industry.
Besides Icon of the Seas, the company has plans to build a second and a third icon-class cruise ship at the Meyer Turku yard and is also building the Mein Schiff 7 here, a ship from joint venture partner TUI Cruises.
“The Finnish maritime ecosystem is built on the innovativeness, expertise and skills of the thousands of leading shipbuilders at Meyer Turku, and Icon of the Seas is the latest example of what can be built here in Finland,” said Mika Lintilรค, Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs.
“This new declaration will secure a future in which the maritime industry continues to make strides in our decarbonization goals and economic growth priorities for years to come.”
The Royal Caribbean Group is most well known for its Royal Caribbean International brand, a cruise line that operates some of the biggest cruise ships in the world. However, the company also owns and operates Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises and has 50% ownership in a joint venture that operates TUI Cruises and Hapag Lloyd Cruises.
The Meyer Turku shipyard is part of the Meyer Group of companies, which also operates the Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, where Odyssey of the Seas was constructed, and the Neptun Werft in Rostock, Germany, which builds river cruise ships.