Meyer Werft & Breakaway

Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany was founded in 1795, and is a privately held, family operated business for seven generations. Today it builds some of the largest ships in the world and has the third largest shipbuilding hall in the world. I joined Meyer Werft over the course of 18 months for the construction of a one-billion-dollar cruise ship from start to finish. I travelled back and forth to Papenburg many times during construction, capturing the milestones of the build from keel laying to launch; a fascinating engineering process to be immersed in with amazing access from Meyer Werft and the NCL team. After construction was completed I followed Breakaway to Norway for sea trails where they tested the ship’s systems, and then its maiden voyage across the Atlantic to New York City. It aired as a two-hour documentary, however I had so much great footage from those months, we could have made an entire series.

Tech Specs

Type: Breakaway-class cruise ship
Tonnage: 145,655 GT
Length: 1,068.4 ft
Beam: 130.2ft at waterline
Draft: 28ft
Decks: 18
Power: 2 x MAN 14V48/60CR (2 x 16,800 kW)
2 x MAN 12V48/60CR (2 x 14,400 kW)
Propulsion: 2 x ABB XO Azipods (2 x 17.5 MW)
Three Brunvoll bow thrusters (3 x 3MW)
Speed: 21.5 kt
Capacity: 3,963
Crew: 1,657