The shipbuilding company Meyer Turku has given the go-ahead for a new flagship program. “Merion” is intended to provide new approaches for the construction of cruise ships and floating infrastructure.
According to the company, the flagship program “Merion” (proper spelling “MERiON”) is intended to “strengthen the shipbuilding industry in the face of ecological, digital and geopolitical changes”. The program links the existing maritime network with new industries to develop solutions for cruise ships and floating infrastructure.
This is the second time the shipyard has been selected for Business Finland’s funding program, which encourages companies to increase their investments in research, development and innovation (RDI) in Finland. The Merion program runs from 2026 to 2030.
With the new plan, Meyer Turku is continuing existing RDI activities based on the previous program “Necoleap” (proper spelling “NEcOLEAP”). The long-term goal of the new program is to ensure that Turku continues to play a leading role in modern and technologically advanced shipbuilding in the coming decades.
“The maritime industry is of strategic importance to Finland, and our strong research and development activities enable us to maintain our leading position in international markets,” said Tom Degermann, CCO at Meyer Turku. “With Merion, we can respond even better to the changing needs of our customers, strengthen our ecosystem and create new business opportunities for the entire Finnish maritime cluster.”
Topics and research areas
The Merion projects are divided into three main areas: Future Operations, Future Structures and Materials and Future Maritime Technologies. The aim is to develop cruise ship concepts for the coming decades and to research floating structures that can be integrated into the operating environment of ships in order to transfer certain functions from cruise ships to floating infrastructures.
“At Merion, we are developing technologies that meet both increasingly stringent environmental regulations and the needs of a rapidly changing business environment,” says Degermann. “Our research focuses in particular on circular economy solutions, digitalization, structural design, clean energy solutions and carbon-neutral materials.”
Meyer Turku – part of the Papenburg-based Meyer Group – has improved its performance in recent years. In 2025, the company achieved a turnover of €2.14 billion, an improvement of around 17% compared to the previous year. Three cruise ships are currently being built for Royal Caribbean: The “Legend of the Seas”, the “Hero of the Seas” another as yet unnamed ship in the series.
