Norwegian Cruise Line announces river conveyance of Norwegian Joy
The new cruise ship for Norwegian Cruise Line (USA), the Norwegian Joy, will probably leave Papenburg on Sunday, 26 March 2017 to be conveyed on the river Ems to Eemshaven (Netherlands). The ship is planned to arrive in Eemshaven on Monday evening, before setting off on a short adjustment run on the Outer Ems. Later on the ship will go through several days of technical and nautical sea trials on the North Sea.
The Ems barrier will be helping the Norwegian Joy to pass through the river Ems, a procedure which will be kept as short as possible. The following schedule has been drawn up for the conveyance of the new cruise ship, with changes possible at short notice due to the weather and tidal conditions:
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Approx. 08.30 pm: ship in waiting position (Papenburg)
Approx. 09.00 pm: ship passes sea lock (Papenburg)
Monday, March 27, 2017
Approx. 01.45 am: ship passes Friesenbrücke (Weener)
Approx. 04.00 am: ship passes the Jann Berghaus bridge (Leer)
Approx. 08.30 am: arrival at the river Ems barrier (Gandersum)
Approx. 12.30 am: ship passes the Ems barrier
Once again, a team of river pilots from Emden will be responsible for bringing the ship through this manoeuvre. The pilots on the river Ems also looked after the MEYER WERFT ships during their passage to the North Sea in previous years. The whole team trained the manoeuvre at the computerised simulator in Wageningen (Netherlands) to be better prepared for the task.
The Norwegian Joy will proceed in reverse up the river Ems to the North Sea. This approach has proven successful in the past as it makes it easier to manoeuvre the ship. Two tugs will be providing assistance in the process.
The cruise liner with 168,750 GRT is one of the largest cruise ships to be built in Germany with capacity for about 4,200 passengers. After completing the technical and nautical sea trials on the North Sea, the ship will be handed over to the owners on April 27 before setting off for Asia, where it will be serving the growing cruise market in China.
Meanwhile, MEYER WERFT continues to work flat out on other ships: building dock II currently houses the World Dream which is scheduled to be completed in autumn 2017 for the Asian Dream Cruises shipping company (Hong Kong).
