IIW History 1990-2015

converted to larger versions through modification. The building of container ships gave rise to a new definition for the size of the ship in terms of the number of containers they could hold, TEU, which stands for the size of the container (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit). The largest container ships built up to 2015 were the four ships constructed on behalf of MSC (Switzerland) in South Korea with a maximum capacity of 192 224 TEU and a gross tonnage of 193 000 tons. The other significant trend in the construction of ships has been manifested in the cruise ship industry that has seen a remarkable change in the size of luxury ships with gross tonnages of up to 227 000 tons being achieved. 17 This has created considerable employment for welding personnel in shipyards around the world, including the Meyer Werft GmbH shipyard on the River Ems, Germany and the STX shipyards in Turku, Finland and Saint-Nazaire, France. The latter produced the largest luxury ship to date, Harmony of the Seas , for the US shipbuilder Royal Caribbean International, when launched in 2016. The pressing requirements of meeting time frames and sea trials have resulted in modern assembly techniques using precise modular construction and the latest welding techniques. Precise manufacturing, in this regard, requires production to very narrow tolerances to minimise assembly costs and to achieve exact fit between individual modules for pre-positioning. The use of laser cutting and welding has been indispensable in achieving greater accuracy, higher rates of production and savings by the use of this technology. 18 Additionally, robotic welding and cutting has become increasingly significant in lowering labour costs and increasing productivity in the shipbuilding industry and would be expected to be more so in coming years.

The size of luxury ships being constructed is ever increasing

MEETING CHALLENGE – THE WAY AHEAD