Meyer Werft today started production of the cruise ship Silver Ray for Silversea Cruises, holding a symbolic steel ceremony in Papenburg, the company announced. Like her sister ship Silver Nova, which is already under construction, the Silver Ray sets new standards for sustainable travel and ultra-luxury cruises with a multitude of innovations. Silver Nova and Silver Ray are set to become the most sustainable ships in their class. Silver Nova will enter service in August 2023, with Silver Ray to follow in summer 2024.
Thanks to an innovative fuel concept with low-emission LNG, a fuel cell system for all hotel operations and batteries, the new ship has the best possible measures to reduce emissions. The new building already exceeds the IMO’s Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) by 25 percent.
The fuel cell system with an output of 4 megawatts will be the first large-scale system of this type in the cruise industry to supplement the LNG engines and supply the ship with sufficient electricity for all hotel operations. This completely eliminates pollutant emissions while the ship is in berth. In addition, a battery system increases the overall efficiency of the ship by absorbing peak loads and thus significantly reducing fuel consumption. A newly developed Micro Auto Gasification System (MAGS) converts onboard waste into thermal energy in line with the circular economy, further increasing the ship’s efficiency.
For the first time at Silversea, Nova Class ships will feature a horizontal layout and an innovative asymmetrical design, with public areas and suites running the full length of the ship. As a result, guests will experience an unprecedented openness of the ship to the water and destinations.
Innovative ship designs like the Silver Nova and Silver Ray are the result of years of research and development work by the Global Design Team of the MEYER Group with more than 1,300 team members. Global Design bundles all development and design activities of the MEYER Group and is looking for further specialists and junior staff for future technologies. We are also looking for architects for the MEYER Group’s broad product portfolio of cruise and special ships, MEYER YACHTS and MEYER Floating Solutions. In Global Design, engineers from the MEYER Group work together at various locations throughout Europe, often digitally.
