German shipbuilder Meyer Werft and Dutch deck specialist Bolidt Kunststoftoepassing BV have extended their close relationship. This includes work on the latest cruise ship to be built at Meyer Werft’s Papenburg shipyard. The 130,000gt vessel, delivered this month, is fitted with some 15,500 m2 of Bolidt material for the outdoor decks.
The majority of the deck areas, as well as the stairs and steps, have been covered using Bolidt’s environmentally-friendly Bolideck Future Teak, a market-leading composite decking product that replicates the look and feel of traditional teak decks, but is ecologically more responsible and offers further benefits through reduced installation times and easier onboard maintenance.
“Completion of this newbuilding project continues an extraordinarily close working relationship between us and Meyer Werft,” said Jacco van Overbeek, Bolidt’s Director, Shipbuilding. “For the past 25 years all passenger vessels delivered by Meyer Werft have been equipped with Bolidt decks.”
Other products used in the outdoor deck areas include Bolideck Select Soft, for some of the more colourful design features onboard, and Bolideck Select Hard for inside the pool wading areas. Bolidt has also supplied a special pool coating system and bespoke base design for the bottom of the pools. The new vessel also features more than 3,400 m2 of indoor deck coverings and in excess of 3,500m of C-Rail from Bolidt. The composite rail is designed as an alternative to traditional teak handrails, offers significant weight savings, a relatively low maintenance requirement, and is moreover, a sustainable product that reduces deforestation.
The 340m long newbuilding is a sistership to a previous vessel which was delivered by the yard in 2011, and which was also equipped with Bolidt deck solutions. Mr van Overbeek said: “As this was a second sister vessel, coordination with the yard and owner proceeded extremely smoothly and we were able to complete all the indoor and outdoor works while the vessel was still inside Meyer Werft’s huge covered shipbuilding dock. “The package we supplied provided a highly durable deck system, with enhanced design possibilities in terms of colour scheme especially, that was also extremely environmentally-friendly, and offered a lower maintenance requirement and enhanced slip resistance.”
Two further cruise vessels at Meyer Werft due for delivery this year will also feature Bolidt products. For Celebrity Reflection and AidaMar, the fifth and sixth in their respective series, Bolidt is supplying all the outdoor decks using Future Teak, as well as Bolideck Select Soft in colourful areas, while the balconies will feature Bolideck 525. Not only expert in supplying the mainstream cruise sector, the Dutch flooring specialist also has a wealth of references when it comes to river cruise ships. A significant current project involves installations onboard a series of four Viking river cruise ships, all of which are due for delivery in the first half of the year from Neptun Werft in Rostock. The company has installed Future Teak on the balconies - a first for the river cruise sector – as well as on the forward lounge deck both inside and outside, the embarkation decks and shuffleboard area on the top deck.
Later this year, a further river cruiser is due for delivery from Neptun Werft, which Bolidt will supply. A-ROSA River Cruises’ newbuilding A-Rosa Silva, has Future Teak specified for the embarkation deck, some balconies and the outside grill restaurant seating area, as well as the bar surround on the top deck.