Experience and Traditions for Nearly 300 Years

The history of MEYER TURKU dates back almost 300 years. In 1737, two businessmen, Esaias Wechter and Heinrich Remgean, started building wooden crafts in the town of Turku.

The second half of the 19th century saw the construction of two new shipyards: the Sandviken dockyard in Helsinki (1865) and the Vulcan shipyard in Turku (1898). The shipyard soon merged with Vulcan Ab. In 1936, this shipyard and the Sandviken shipyard were acquired by Wärtsilä. The naval dockyard started commercial shipbuilding in the 1920s under the name State shipyard, which in the 1946 became part of the State Metal Works and some years later, part of Valmet Corporation.

The Laivateollisuus shipyard in Turku was established in 1945 by leading Finnish ship owners. The shipyard was taken over by Valmet in 1973. In 1986, Wärtsilä and Valmet decided to merge their shipbuilding operations into a new jointly owned company. In 1986, the company's shipyards had delivered more than 2,600 vessels, ranging from wooden steam craft to luxury cruisers and nuclear icebreakers. In 1989, the company continued operating under a new name, Masa-Yards. From 1991, the shipyards in Turku and Helsinki were partly owned by Norwegian Kvaerner ASA. The mergers continued in 2002, when Aker and Kvaerner joined forces and formed Aker Kvaerner Yards.

On an industrial base shipbuilding grew quickly after the war. The first vessels were simple ones, like barges and schooners, but developed over the years towards research and passenger vessels. In 2004, Aker consolidated the Finnish shipyards under the same roof, known as Aker Finnyards. In August 2008, Aker Yards was purchased by STX Shipbuilding, a Korean company, and was known as STX Europe, and the activities in Finland STX Finland.

Today, Turku shipyard is family-owned by German shipyard MEYER WERFT. Jan Meyer has been running the business in MEYER TURKU shipyard since 2014.

Timeline of Meyer Turku's history

Passenger ships built or on order (after 1060)