21st CENTURY LINER
4 x 48'
Cruising is now the fastest-growing holiday sector in the world. Worldwide there are more than 20 cruise ships being built to meet the ever increasing demand, five of them by the P&O company alone.
This series follows the design and construction of one of them - the new 'superliner' 'Aurora' - from initial planning to her maiden cruise.
The liner, which weighs in at more than 79,000 tonnes and
can carry some 1,800 passengers and crew, can sail the oceans at speeds of up to 24 knots and is at the cutting edge of new technology.
The Series:
January 2000, somewhere in the North Sea, a new £200
million, 76,000 ton super-cruise-liner is undergoing sea trials. The holiday cruise industry is expanding dramatically and 'Aurora' is the 'millennium' addition to the
P&O fleet. If the sea trials are satisfactory she will complete her fitting out and in May 2000 will set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage.
First Freedom Productions negotiated exclusive access to the story of her design and construction, and to the men and women who worked on her over a period of 18 months. It was
to be a race against time, as it was the shortest building-period ever for a major cruise liner.
Background
Aurora is being built in a small town in Germany, 30 miles from the sea. Papenburg, on the
river Ems, is a town the size of Henley-on Thames, yet just outside Papenburg is a building which is bigger than Wembley Stadium. This is the home of Meyer Werft and their shipbuilding
yard is in the Guinness Book of Records - it is the biggest covered yard in the world.
These programmes show the building of 'Aurora', from the 'keel-laying' ceremony until the
departure from Southampton on the maiden voyage to the Mediterranean, and follow the great variety of people involved in the construction. Filming started before the keel-laying as we talked
to the people who commissioned, designed and prepare to build this great liner.
The programme shows P&O's need for new ships, two others delivered before Aurora in 1999,
and three more before 2002. We will follow the construction though each stage of the project. Using interviews done on site and in technical departments we will illustrate the problems
created by this particular design and the necessary changes made to accommodate these problems.
Richard Vie from P&O's 'Newbuild' team explains the technical needs; a ship capable of
carrying up to 2,000 passengers, in the comfort expected by modern travellers, with cabins of modern hotel-room standards, kitchens to supply the quality of food expected and with every
type of on-board entertainment. This is a floating hotel which has also got to be able to travel fast to get away from Southampton and reach the sun as quickly as possible.
Vie is an engineer who is dedicated to his work but has the ability to explain the design and working of a ship in a way that lay people find not only interesting and stimulating but easy to understand.
Marine architect Rober Tillberg, a Swede, is the main co-ordinating designer, along with Peter Yran from Norway and John McNeece from the UK. Tillberg and Yran in particular explain the
problems in being involved in a construction which has to satisfy particularly British tastes but which (unlike Oriana) will also have to attract more 'youngsters' who are getting used to the American way of 'cruising'.
It is always fascinating to see behind the scenes of any large enterprise. By the time 'Aurora' sails from Southampton on her maiden voyage our viewers will have experienced first-hand the
excitement, the effort and the meticulous planning that goes into creating a holiday dream.
Producer: First Freedom Productions.
Availability: Worldwide ex.Europe (apart from Portugal, Spain, France and Germany), all media.