Photo Liberty of the Seas

[Sheik]

I was looking for some new photos at Akerfinnyards' website and found this one of the Liberty of the Seas. Behind the vessel, I think you'll see the cabins of the third Freedom of the Seas ship. There are more things to see, also the bulb ... :)

 

[Guest LetMeGo]

I was looking for some new photos at Akerfinnyards' website and found this one of the Liberty of the Seas. Behind the vessel, I think you'll see the cabins of the third Freedom of the Seas ship. There are more things to see, also the bulb ... :)

 

It's a nice picture indeed...:)

 

What you see behind the vessel (the brownish blocks) are the first grand blocks for the Norwegian car ferry Color Magic, from which its hull is assembled. The first grand blocks of the hull were placed (aka the keel was laid) in the drydock four days after Liberty was floated out. The hull of Color Magic will be ready in about six months time, when it will be floated to the Rauma shipyard some 50 miles away to be completed for delivery.

 

Each of these grand blocks in the picture are about 3-4 decks high (you can see the lines between the decks), the width of the entire ship, and weigh between 200-500 tonnes. So far in this picture they have been outfitted only with the heaviest parts such as machinery and the largest pipes which cannot be installed later.

 

You can just about see the bow of the ship in one of the grand blocks, and another half dozen blocks of the cabin areas on one side of the crane, behind the long building... If I remember correctly, that long building is practically a conveyor belt for building the grand blocks, and they will lift the bottom parts of the hull straight out of it into the drydock.

 

What I find most interesting in this picture is the block behind the bow section. It has a larger mass on either side of the block, and an empty space in the middle. I think that means it's one of the cabin blocks for the promenade of that ship. (They've been building promenades in car ferries for over fifteen years now. :p )

[Sheik]

Thank for VERY much for your information!!! :D

[Guest LetMeGo]

No problem! It's a great excuse to relive my past in the shipbuilding industry. :D

 

I might even be able to answer more spesific questions if you happen to think of any. (Although I don't know much about the particulars of the Turku Shipyard... I've only spent two days in there, as opposed to the two years in Helsinki.)

[MrsKnuts2]

She looks Beautiful to me!

[amy hood]

Thanks so much for sharing it with us. The waiting is almost killing me. We don;t sail until Dec. 15,2007.

[FitzLA]

If that is not the 3rd Freedom Class ship behind Liberty, then where is the 3rd Freedom Class since they started assembly of that one right after Liberty was floated out? I also think the 'Bulb' lying next to Liberty belongs to 3rd Freedom Class as the Color Ferries do not have 'bulb' that large. Also, that drydock is the only one at that yard large enough for Freedom Class, so I would venture to believe that IS 3rd Freedom Class and the Color Magic is in another drydock at that shipyard.

[Guest LetMeGo]

If that is not the 3rd Freedom Class ship behind Liberty, then where is the 3rd Freedom Class since they started assembly of that one right after Liberty was floated out? I also think the 'Bulb' lying next to Liberty belongs to 3rd Freedom Class as the Color Ferries do not have 'bulb' that large. Also, that drydock is the only one at that yard large enough for Freedom Class, so I would venture to believe that IS 3rd Freedom Class and the Color Magic is in another drydock at that shipyard.

 

There is only one drydock at the Turku shipyard. What you see around Liberty are the blocks for the next hull which will be leaving before the keel of the 3rd Freedom ship is laid.

 

While it is possible that the bulb would be for the RCCL ship, I doubt they would have made it before the one for Color Magic. It still needs a pretty large bulb, as it's almost the width of Freedom and two thirds of the length.

 

The work on the 3rd Freedom ship should be starting any day if it already hasn't, but it will take literally months before the first blocks are ready. The start of assembly means that they will be cutting the steel plates into the right shape for a few weeks...

[JAMESCC]

There is only one drydock at the Turku shipyard. What you see around Liberty are the blocks for the next hull which will be leaving before the keel of the 3rd Freedom ship is laid.

 

While it is possible that the bulb would be for the RCCL ship, I doubt they would have made it before the one for Color Magic. It still needs a pretty large bulb, as it's almost the width of Freedom and two thirds of the length.

 

The work on the 3rd Freedom ship should be starting any day if it already hasn't, but it will take literally months before the first blocks are ready. The start of assembly means that they will be cutting the steel plates into the right shape for a few weeks...

Hey Tero love your posts you have a better knowledge of ship building than most if not all of us on this board. I have a few questions because i am fascinated by these mega giant cruise ships being made now. What are you hearing about "project genesis"? When will that start and will they build it in that same dry dock? It seems that dry dock has ships scheduled for years to come so where will they build "project genesis"? Also is this now at 220,000 tons as big a ship can be made at Aker Finnyards or is it possible to go even bigger? Project Genesis in my opinion is going to really take people breath away its going to be incredible and they better make a new documentary on the building of the great ship. Thanks Tero for the help.

[Guest LetMeGo]

Thanks for the compliment! :o I suppose it's easy to know more than nothing. :D

 

I don't have any information on the Genesis ship yet, because it's still in the stage of preliminary deck planning where they are allocating the spaces... I suppose I'll try to find out more next year when they start having some plans...

 

There aren't really that many ships scheduled for that one drydock in Turku over the next years... The hull of Color Fantasy will be floated out early next year, and the third Freedom late next year... After that I think there is only one "small" ferry for the Viking Line floated out in early 2008 before the building starts on the hull of the Genesis ship. (The orderbook on the shipyard's website lists all the ships of the three yards in Finland.)

 

There was some talk of expanding the drydock at Rauma because it has the best possibility for this, but I doubt it's going to happen after the larger shipyard in France was bought by Aker Yards... It has a drydock which was (I think) twice as long as the one in Turku, and there are no bridges on the way from there to USA to limit the height. I think that larger generations of RCCL ships are going to be built there. :confused:

 

I'm sure they are going to make a documentary of the new ship! :D

[JAMESCC]

Thanks for the compliment! :o I suppose it's easy to know more than nothing. :D

 

I don't have any information on the Genesis ship yet, because it's still in the stage of preliminary deck planning where they are allocating the spaces... I suppose I'll try to find out more next year when they start having some plans...

 

There aren't really that many ships scheduled for that one drydock in Turku over the next years... The hull of Color Fantasy will be floated out early next year, and the third Freedom late next year... After that I think there is only one "small" ferry for the Viking Line floated out in early 2008 before the building starts on the hull of the Genesis ship. (The orderbook on the shipyard's website lists all the ships of the three yards in Finland.)

 

There was some talk of expanding the drydock at Rauma because it has the best possibility for this, but I doubt it's going to happen after the larger shipyard in France was bought by Aker Yards... It has a drydock which was (I think) twice as long as the one in Turku, and there are no bridges on the way from there to USA to limit the height. I think that larger generations of RCCL ships are going to be built there. :confused:

 

I'm sure they are going to make a documentary of the new ship! :D

Once again excellent information Tero and we as passengers on cruise ships know nothing about ship design or building. I was just going to ask and you already answerd did Aker Finnyards buy the French ship yard? Thats a much bigger yard huh? I think at some pint Royal Caribbean will challenge the title of the biggest ship in the world. Theres a tanker thats like 262,000 tons and thats the biggest I believe so project Genesis is almost there. I could see Royal Caribbean setting out to build a 300,000 ton ship. Also not to suck up to Royal Caribbean but they really do have a vision and passion for building giant ships and I think its amazing and very cool. Also it seems Aker Finnyards can take some credit for this vision and passion. Also Tero I was EXTREMELY surprised to learn that the giant US Aircraft carriers are not that big. The US Ronald Reagan is only 100,000 gross tons? I mean the Crown princess is bigger than that. I was very surprised to learn that.

[Guest LetMeGo]

I can't find the exact figure now, but I seem to remember that the Chantiers l'Atlantique shipyard has a drydock sized some 300' x 2000'... I could be wrong of course. ;)

 

I think there's a long way to go for the biggest ship in the world. :D

Because of the different ways to measure the size of the ships, it's pretty hard to compare them... The aircraft carriers are measured in displacement (ie the weight of the ship), which is only about 1/3 of the GRT of the cruise ships... A 150,000 GRT cruise ship like Freedom only has a displacement of some 55,000 tonnes. The difference in weight mostly comes from the thicker steel used in the hull, and the added weight from the shielding of the nuclear reactors. Because the ships are roughly equal in length, the aircraft carrier continues much deeper below the waterline.

 

To equal the displacent of the world's largest cargo ship (around 700,000 tonnes I think), a cruise ship would have to be some 2,000,000 GRT, or ten times the volume of Genesis! :eek: With the typical dimensions of today that would mean a ship over 2,000' long, almost 300' wide, and around 30 decks high... There's currently no port that could handle that kind of ship. :D

[JAMESCC]

I can't find the exact figure now, but I seem to remember that the Chantiers l'Atlantique shipyard has a drydock sized some 300' x 2000'... I could be wrong of course. ;)

 

I think there's a long way to go for the biggest ship in the world. :D

Because of the different ways to measure the size of the ships, it's pretty hard to compare them... The aircraft carriers are measured in displacement (ie the weight of the ship), which is only about 1/3 of the GRT of the cruise ships... A 150,000 GRT cruise ship like Freedom only has a displacement of some 55,000 tonnes. The difference in weight mostly comes from the thicker steel used in the hull, and the added weight from the shielding of the nuclear reactors. Because the ships are roughly equal in length, the aircraft carrier continues much deeper below the waterline.

 

To equal the displacent of the world's largest cargo ship (around 700,000 tonnes I think), a cruise ship would have to be some 2,000,000 GRT, or ten times the volume of Genesis! :eek: With the typical dimensions of today that would mean a ship over 2,000' long, almost 300' wide, and around 30 decks high... There's currently no port that could handle that kind of ship. :D

Once again great information and I thought it was insane to think an air craft carrier was smaller than a cruise ship. I thought that thier had to be a different way of calculating the size of a air craft carrier. In any event Royal Caribbean will have the largest passenger ships for a long time to come. No one is even coming close nor has plans to come close. Carnival is way lagging in size and Princess comes closest and yet they are very far behind.Cunards Queen Mary 2 was the biggest but is now being left in the dust as well and Cunards not going to build any more ships for a while especially not one that will trump the QM2. It looks RCC has the largest passenger ship award pretty well locked up but it will be interesting to see if they want to or will top Genesis in the years to come. Thanks again for the information.

[Guest LetMeGo]

In any event Royal Caribbean will have the largest passenger ships for a long time to come. No one is even coming close nor has plans to come close. Carnival is way lagging in size and Princess comes closest and yet they are very far behind.Cunards Queen Mary 2 was the biggest but is now being left in the dust as well and Cunards not going to build any more ships for a while especially not one that will trump the QM2. It looks RCC has the largest passenger ship award pretty well locked up but it will be interesting to see if they want to or will top Genesis in the years to come.

 

That much is certainly true, and I think it's a good thing that cruise lines have different selling points, instead of just sticking a different name on the same ship. It looks as though RC will be developing their ships as the destinations, which might be the more economical thing in the future. (They might even start to charge "shore excursion" fees for leaving the Genesis ship because it can't be docked that easily. :D )

 

I'm personally among those people who think of the ship as the means to rech the ports, and would like to just relax there for the night. :cool:

[nlcentralchmps03]

Awesome pic and info guys.

 

 

Thanks!

[FLASHINGLIGHTS83]

Ok, not that i have the vast knowledge as you two, but i heard that project genesis is the largest ship order that aker finyards can handle. With that being said, i heard in an article that there are only 2 shipyards that can handle a ship bigger, and one of them is in Virginia. that would be kool for me, living in Fl, as i would love to go and watch the ship being built.

 

GREG

[DJan07]

Thanks for the pics and information everyone. This thread is really interesting. I love learning about ships and how they are built. Thanks again!

 

Derek

[Guest LetMeGo]

Ok, not that i have the vast knowledge as you two, but i heard that project genesis is the largest ship order that aker finyards can handle. With that being said, i heard in an article that there are only 2 shipyards that can handle a ship bigger, and one of them is in Virginia. that would be kool for me, living in Fl, as i would love to go and watch the ship being built.

 

GREG

 

Yes, it is going to be the longest and highest ship they can build in Turku... But there are several shipyards that can build bigger ships. (Chantiers in France which Aker just bought, and all the Japanese and Korean shipyards which are building larger tankers, possibly even two at a time.) The main problem with these other shipyards is their lack of experience on building passenger ships... The more and more expensive the ships get, the less likely it is for "new" yards to get them as a first contract.

 

Then there's of course the added costs of having the best engines and decorative materials imported from Europe... It is possible for an American shipyard to get in the competition, but the Europeans do have a big headstart.

[Cruising89143]

Tero, what cruise lines are building ships at the Helsinki yard? I last remember Carnival and Costa building the Spirit class ships there a few years ago but am not aware of any new ships being built at that particular yard.

[Guest LetMeGo]

Tero, what cruise lines are building ships at the Helsinki yard? I last remember Carnival and Costa building the Spirit class ships there a few years ago but am not aware of any new ships being built at that particular yard.

 

At the moment there are no plans for building cruise ships there. :(

It looks like I worked on the last four cruise ships (as my signature says :D) that were built there.

 

Since all the major cruise lines are interested in post-panamax sized ships, and the drydock and outffitting pier in Helsinki are only panamax-sized, it really isn't possible at the moment... Aker Yards has revised its strategy and made Helsinki a ferry yard. Ferries of course in this case means anything up to the 700' long, 60,000 GRT and 3,000 passenger ship ordered by Tallink. ;)

[Cruising89143]

At the moment there are no plans for building cruise ships there. :(

It looks like I worked on the last four cruise ships (as my signature says :D) that were built there.

 

Since all the major cruise lines are interested in post-panamax sized ships, and the drydock and outffitting pier in Helsinki are only panamax-sized, it really isn't possible at the moment... Aker Yards has revised its strategy and made Helsinki a ferry yard. Ferries of course in this case means anything up to the 700' long, 60,000 GRT and 3,000 passenger ship ordered by Tallink. ;)

 

That's a shame. I really enjoyed your photos that you took when all of those new ships were built. They were outstanding. I was looking forward to more.

[Guest LetMeGo]

Me? Pictures? :confused: I think there must have been another Tero in there besides me, as I can't recall taking any pictures... :eek: :D

 

 

Now in case somebody's interested in the Helsinki shipyard, this is a picture taken of Carnival Spirit when it was floated out of the drydock. The construction hall is so small that everything above lido deck had to be built separately, and the bow and the aft of the ship wouldn't fit inside... Also the wings of the bridge were added afterwards.

 

 

The current cruise ships of equal length (950') like Crown Princess or Carnival Liberty are some 20' wider and have about two more cabin decks than this class of ships.

[bilyclub]

There is only one drydock at the Turku shipyard. What you see around Liberty are the blocks for the next hull which will be leaving before the keel of the 3rd Freedom ship is laid.

 

While it is possible that the bulb would be for the RCCL ship, I doubt they would have made it before the one for Color Magic. It still needs a pretty large bulb, as it's almost the width of Freedom and two thirds of the length.

 

The work on the 3rd Freedom ship should be starting any day if it already hasn't, but it will take literally months before the first blocks are ready. The start of assembly means that they will be cutting the steel plates into the right shape for a few weeks...

 

Tero, you are right on.

 

http://www.akerfinnyards.com/press.cfm

 

The keel of the cruise ship to be named Color Magic was laid today at Aker Yards. Both Chairman of the Board Olav Nils Sunde and CEO Trond Kleivdal from Color Line were present, hosted by Yrjö Julin, President of Aker Yards, Cruise & Ferries