Hamburg, September 2002: In the time from September 24 to 28, 2002, the traditional Hamburg shipyard Blohm+Voss GmbH - celebrating its 125th anniversary this year - and Thyssen Nordseewerke GmbH will show their products and services in Hall 10 (stand 10035) in the course of the most important marine exhibition worldwide on the Hamburg exhibition ground.

Newbuildings
Blohm+Voss GmbH will present models of the cruise liners OLYMPIA EXPLORER and the frigate SACHSEN, the first of a series of F 124 class frigates. In April 2002, after having successfully completed her sea trials, the sister ship of the OLYMPIC VOYAGER, the OLYMPIA EXPLORER, was handed over to Royal Olympic Cruise Lines Inc. Meanwhile, these ships are in service with the shipping line.

The two cruise liners OLYMPIA EXPLORER and OLYMPIC VOYAGER have been built according to the Fast Monohull concept developed by Blohm+Voss. The new hull concept results in a fuel saving of up to 20% at relatively high speeds compared with conventional hull forms. The OLYMPIA VOYAGER was delivered in the year 2000 and received the HANSA Award "Ship of the Year 2000", the Ship Pax Award "for Outstanding Cruise Exterior of 2000" and the Cruise + Ferry Award 2001 "Most Significant Cruiseship Newbuilding".

Just as successful was the frigate SACHSEN when she completed her sea trials. In October this year, four weeks earlier than scheduled, she will be handed over to the German Office for Defence Technology and Procurement. The SACHSEN will be commissioned by the end of 2002.

Facing the Future with Innovation and Quality
In its jubilee year the traditional Hamburg shipyard has been able to strengthen its market position and prepare for the future. With an expected order backlog of about 1.453 million euros Blohm+Voss GmbH will close the financial year ending on September 30, 2002. With high investments in the last few years, Blohm+Voss has further improved its technical standard and is prepared for worldwide operation. "Decisive factors of competition will be quality and innovation" said the secretary-general of the committee of shipbuilding associations of the European Union Dr. Reinhard Lücken confirming that the competition factors quality and innovation will dominate to an increasing degree.

With the combined laser welding and cutting plant commissioned in 2001, Blohm+Voss has set new standards. Blohm+Voss is the first yard worldwide, which welds and cuts up to 70% of the steel for a newbuilding with a laser plant. This allows the building of ships with a precision never reached before and an extremely light weight reducing the working hours per processed ton of steel considerably.

In the course of the SMM 2002, Blohm+Voss GmbH informs visitors about the fields of activities in modern shipbuilding. This includes the Virtual Reality design method as well as simulation methods such as CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to calculate the course of flow of a lines plan, to make the course of flow visible and to show unwanted effects at an early stage.

Blohm+Voss also informs about new naval ship designs. Especially the F124 class frigate SACHSEN built by Blohm+Voss, the new Corvette 130 (both for the German Navy) and the MEKO D frigate are presented.

Blohm+Voss Repair GmbH
The order situation for ship repair has been good. Up to the end of 2002, Blohm+Voss Repair GmbH will work almost to capacity. Some repair orders are outstanding: With a tonnage of 338,000 the PEENE ORE of the Hamburg shipping line Laeisz is one of the largest dry bulk carriers in the world. With a beam of 58 m she is the widest ship which has ever been docked in dock Elbe 17 (60 m wide). The MOSTEFA BEN BOULAID, a large LNG tanker of the state-owned Algerian shipping line Hyproc, will be at the yard for 75 days for conversion work. The frigate BAYERN of the German Navy will be in the dock in the time from August to mid-November 2002 for general overhaul. In January 2003, the PRINCESSE RAGNHILD of Color Line will be in Hamburg for conversion. Regular visitors to the shipyard are the cruise liners SAGA ROSA and MAXIM GORKIY, which recently have been docked for comprehensive conversion work.

With the latest innovations, Blohm+Voss Repair GmbH has strengthened its market position. Last year, special attention was given to the Dockmaster and the Dockboy, which were both developed by Blohm+Voss. With these units, paint can be removed with a high-pressure water jet (up to 2800 bar). This is an environmentally safe method.

125 Years Tradition and Progress
Exactly on April 5, 2002, Blohm+Voss celebrated its 125th anniversary by an "Open Day" with about 100,000 visitors at the yard, a ceremony at the City Hall of Hamburg and a gala evening in one of the large shipbuilding halls of Blohm+Voss.

With "Tradition and Progress", the motto of the anniversary, shipbuilding has been the main focus of concentration since 1877. In addition to a constant adaptation to the future by continuous technical innovations and further developments, the Hamburg-based shipyard looks back on many decades of successful shipbuilding. World-renowned ships were launched at Blohm+Voss. Sail training ships such as the GORCH FOCK (1958) carried the name of the shipyard around the world as well as the giant steamers VATERLAND and the battle ship BISMARCK. In 1930 the turbine-powered steamer EUROPA (1928) won the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing. In the time from 1877 to 2002 almost 1000 ships have been launched at Blohm+Voss.

Blohm+Voss
Public Relations

SMM September 24. - 28, 2002, Hall 10, Stand 10035

Contact:
Andrea Wessel
Blohm + Voss GmbH
Phone +49 (0)40 31 19 13 20
Fax +49 (0)40 31 19 33 29
E-Mail: wessel@blohmvoss.thyssen.com
www.blohmvoss.com