MEYER WERFT has started production of the cruise ship Silver Ray for Silversea Cruises today, hosting a symbolic steel cutting ceremony in Papenburg. Like her sister ship Silver Nova, which is already under construction, Silver Ray sets new in sustainable travel and ultra-luxury cruising with a host 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 following in summer 2024.

“Like Silver Nova, Silver Ray, with her innovative propulsion concept and other significant technical innovations, represents a milestone on the road to carbon-neutral cruising. I am sure that both ships will delight their passengers from day one,” says Jan Meyer, Managing Director of MEYER WERFT.

“We are very proud to have held the steel cutting ceremony for Silver Ray at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, marking an important milestone in the construction of one of the industry’s most environmentally conscious ships,” said Roberto Martinoli, President and CEO, Silversea Cruises. “The second vessel in our pioneering Nova class, Silver Ray – and her sister ship, Silver Nova – will strengthen our leadership in ultra-luxury cruising, introducing advancements in engineering that support our mission to showcase the world to our guests, and to do so mindfully, respectfully, and in unprecedented comfort.”

Thanks to an innovative fuel concept with low-emission LNG, a fuel cell system for the entire hotel operation 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 complement the LNG engines as the first large-scale installation of its kind in the cruise industry, supplying the ship with enough electricity to power the entire hotel operation. This completely eliminates pollutant emissions while the ship is in port. In addition, a battery system increases the overall efficiency of the ship by absorbing peak loads, thus significantly reducing fuel consumption. A newly developed Micro Auto Gasification System (MAGS) converts waste on board into thermal energy in line with the circular economy, further increasing the vessel’s efficiency.

For the first time at Silversea, Nova-class ships will feature a horizontal layout and innovative asymmetrical design, with public spaces and suites spanning the entire length of the ship. As a result, guests will experience an unprecedented open layout of the ship to the water and destinations.

Innovative ship designs like that of Silver Nova and Silver Ray are the result of years of research and development work by the MEYER Group’s Global Design team of more than 1,300 team members. Global Design brings together all the development and design activities of the MEYER Group and is looking for further specialists and junior staff for future technologies. It is also looking for architects for the MEYER Group’s broad product portfolio of cruise and special ships, MEYER Y A C H T S and MEYER Floating Solutions. In Global Design, MEYER Group engineers work together at various locations across Europe, often digitally.