Costa Smeralda before its recent float-out

Meyer Turku Group, the privately owned Finnish cruise ship builder, has reported a fall in net profit but higher revenues for 2018 compared to the prvious year.

Net profit fell to €29.0 million from €32.5 million in2017, but revenues increased to €969.7 million from €808.2 million. The net profit equaled 3% of revenues last year, which was one percentage point less than in 2017.

“We are on a good path to meet the goals we have set. We need to, however, double our production in the next four years to meet the demands in our order book. Investments to the facilities and our personnel with first-in-series ships have impacted our profitability in 2018 and will continue to do so during the next couple of years,” CEO Jan Meyer said in a statement.

In 2018 Meyer Turku delivered one ship, the 111,500 gross ton Mein Schiff 1, to TUI Cruises in Germany. The second unit of the class, Mein Schiff 2 was handed over to the same owner in January 2019.

Last year also saw the start of hull production for Costa Cruises Costa Smeralda and the start of production for Carnival Cruise Lines Mardi Gras, both in excess of 180 000 gross tons and LNG powered. The current orderbook of the company  comprises seven large cruise ships.