Papenburg, Germany, is home to the world’s largest shipbuilding dock hall, which is operated by MEYER WERFT GmbH. There, more than 2,500 workers design and assemble some of the largest cruise ships in the world. Nearly 700 ships of different types have been built at the hall since 1795, the most recent being the Norwegian Cruise Line’s Breakaway.
The hall is more than 500 meters long, and it features many types of workstations. At hull-construction stations, workers cut steel plates with lasers or weld plates together into sections for the ship’s hull. At other stations, workers build and install the ship’s interior framework, including the steel pipes that house ventilation, heating and air conditioning systems, electricity, water supply, sanitation and communication cables.