Original subtitles

[narrator] Today, this elite team of shipbuilders is embarking on

an extraordinary endeavor.

When she's built, she'll be absolutely amazing.

They are racing to build an astonishing vessel, one of

the largest and most advanced cruise ships in the world.

This is a ship of mammoth magnitude, constructed from

over 46,000 tons of steel.

It will carry almost 9,000 passengers and crew,

equipped with the world's longest onboard dry slide,

and capable of running on

a groundbreaking new fuel source.

There's a new prototype.

To build this seafaring Goliath, the team must combine

time-honored tradition...

[man speaking French]

...with trailblazing technology...

The amount of things to do is unbelievable.

...and punishing deadlines.

This colossal cruise line ranks in the league of ambitious new

engineering wonders that are bigger, faster,

taller, and more advanced

than anything ever constructed before.

This is the inside story of the extraordinary challenge

of building these giants.

-[crumbling] -[metal clank]

[metallic thudding]

Today in Saint-Nazaire, France,

an enormous team of 3,000 shipbuilders

is starting construction on the prototype

for a new class of colossal cruise liner.

[Trevor] It is a massive ship.

It's one of the biggest in the world.

We have 22 stories,

40,000 square meters of public area.

It's a huge ship.

The new prototype is called MSC World Europa.

Trevor Young leads the team designing this giant.

This ship will push a lot of boundaries,

from the interior design and the guest experience,

but also the technical side.

This new class of ship will be the largest and most advanced

vessel this cruise line has ever built.

It features a brand-new futuristic bow shape

to help it carve through waves.

And the vessel's ambitious scale and innovation will

stretch the limits of cruise ship design and construction.

We wanted this ship to be the next level, or the next

generation of what we have built in the past.

The inspiration was "Blade Runner 2049,"

where everything is high technology,

but also very organic and not just uniform.

So when she's built, she'll be absolutely amazing.

A high-tech vessel of this magnitude doesn't come cheap.

The ship's owner is investing over $1.3 billion to build this

ocean-going leviathan.

The cost of building this ship is quite extraordinary when

you think about it -- it's over 1 billion euro.

It's a huge investment.

We have a huge team here in London to actually design

and coordinate the build of the vessel.

We have teams also in the shipyard

where we're building in France.

Overseeing the ship's construction

is site director Gaetano Rolando.

It falls to him to ensure the vessel is built

and delivered on time.

I like my work from the beginning of the project

until delivery because every day is different.

Gaetano has been building ships at this yard

for more than eight years.

But World Europa will be the largest vessel he's ever

constructed and his biggest challenge to date.

[Gaetano] Most important is the totally different shape,

from the bow to the aft.

This is the mammoth prototype cruise ship Gaetano

and the team must build.

Measuring nearly 1,100 feet long

and weighing almost 86,000 tons,

this vessel will be longer than the Eiffel Tower

and seven times as heavy.

Propelling this Goliath will be five 14-cylinder engines

powered by an innovative fuel system known as LNG,

liquefied natural gas.

This is a first for the company.

The ship is designed with a ground-breaking

open-air shopping promenade with panoramic ocean views.

On board, they plan to build 13 dining areas,

seven swimming pools,

and an opulent rear lounge, complete with chandeliers,

to entertain the 6,762 guests staying in 2,626 cabins.

This vast vessel will be

the largest and most complex cruise ship

the team has ever attempted to build.

[Gaetano] From the technical point of view, the energy efficiency,

to the design point of view, is a different kind of ship.

We are here in Saint-Nazaire to supervise each step,

from the beginning until the end.

Gaetano and the team have just 36 months to build, test,

to deliver the gigantic vessel.

To recover some of the enormous construction costs, tickets for

the maiden voyage have gone on sale

before the vessel is complete.

[Trevor] The demand has been incredible, so we're super

excited that our passengers feel as excited as we do about

this new vessel that we're building.

Delaying the liner's maiden voyage would be a disaster.

Pressure is on to ensure the team finishes the work

on time and delivers the ship as promised.

[Trevor] Delivering the ship on time is incredibly important for us,

because it gives confidence also with our passengers that

everything is running smoothly.

Building this mammoth new ship

involves a number of crucial challenges.

This is how Gaetano and the shipyard will do it.

First, workers must cut, bend, and weld over 46,000 tons of

steel into 59 massive sections of ship called megablocks.

The megablocks will fit together

to form the skeleton of the ship.

Next, workers must install two mammoth 343-ton tanks

into the bowels of the vessel

that will hold the ship's liquefied-natural-gas fuel.

These will connect to five 16-megawatt engines

that will power the ship.

Once afloat, the team must complete the public spaces with

the shops, bars, and lounges.

Build, furnish, and install the 2,626 cabins.

And when complete, the team will need to load

386 tons of food and drink for guests before setting sail.

Gaetano and the team will begin transferring sheets of

bare steel into the 350,000 individual pieces that will

form the vessel's frame.

To do this, they use special cutting machines that

fire jets of superheated gas,

called plasma, through the steel.

This slices the metal with millimeter precision.

[Gaetano] It's like a puzzle, where each pieces have their final

location, final position, altogether forming

the big ship like this.

Each piece is then carefully bent and molded into shape

using powerful presses.

This enables workers to meticulously craft

the cruise ship's unique shape.

Next, engineers assemble sections of the vessel in these

giant workshops.

They weld together the freshly molded pieces

of steel into panels.

But Gaetano and the team have a big problem.

It's a mammoth operation

to construct each of the ship's 22 decks.

To build, wire up, and furnish the vessel one layer at a time,

deck by deck, would take years,

and the ship would miss its crucial delivery date.

Every day we are running against the schedule.

And every day we are solving a lot of

problem together with the yard in order to be on time.

To ensure they hit their deadline, workers here

use an ingenious technique to speed up construction.

The steel panels are built upside down.

This allows workers easy access to install

the ship's critical services,

including plumbing and ventilation,

into the ceiling.

A vessel of this size requires around 75 miles of

electrical cable

and over 90 miles of piping.

Next, workers need to join the completed panels together

to form a megablock.

[soft metal clanking]

Once a steel panel is complete, it is placed on top of another

and welded into position.

Each panel measures one deck high,

and it takes around 20 panels to form one megablock.

Once a megablock is complete,

workers use the yard's giant gantry crane

to lift and flip the megablock over,

turning it the correct way up.

The crane transfers the finished megablock to the dry dock...

[metal clanking]

...where it's carefully lowered and welded into place.

It takes around nine weeks to construct each one of

World Europa's 59 megablocks.

Using this megablock method, the team can work

on multiple parts of the ship at the same time,

which speeds up the build.

Each block is around 1,000, 1,300 tons,

so it's really megablocks.

But lifting these mammoth megablocks requires some

mega equipment.

[majestic music builds and fades]

In this vast shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France,

this team is racing to construct the $1.3 billion prototype

for a brand-new class of cruise ship.

We have the biggest crane in Europe, so the block

can be very big.

At 213 feet high,

and with a lifting capacity of over 1,500 tons,

this giant gantry crane lifts, flips, and moves the megablocks

with ease.

The entire shipyard springs into action.

Megablock after megablock is assembled, welded,

and lowered into position.

The length of World Europa's enormous hull

starts to fill the dock.

After 10 months of furious construction...

[beeping]

♪♪

...progress on the build grinds to a halt.

The team can't add any more megablocks until

the ship's innovative LNG fuel tanks and equipment

are installed in the hull.

[soft piano music plays]

Large vessels like cruise ships are traditionally fueled by

a form of diesel or marine gas oil.

This new cruise ship will be powered by liquefied natural gas,

or LNG.

This is methane that is cleaned of impurities and cooled to

around minus 256 degrees Fahrenheit.

This turns the gas into a liquid,

which takes up 600 times less space to transport,

meaning more fuel can be stored on board.

The cruise industry is turning to LNG as a new, greener

fuel source to power its ships.

So with Europa, we started talking LNG over 10 years ago.

When we did that, everyone thought we were crazy,

that we wouldn't be able to get the fuel, but LNG is now

a mainstay for nearly all the cruise lines and even in

a lot of the cargo vessels that are being built today.

The company claims that sailing World Europa in LNG

mode will almost eliminate air pollutants like sulfur

and nitrogen oxides from the ship and reduce

the vessel's greenhouse gas emissions by 20%.

One of the biggest challenges for Gaetano in the shipyard is

ensuring the prototype LNG system is installed correctly.

Today, the team is gearing up to install the largest part of

the system, the enormous tanks that store the LNG fuel.

This is how they'll attempt to do it.

Each of the vessel's two voluminous LNG tanks measure

92 feet long and weigh 343 tons.

To install them, the team will use the yard's gantry crane to

lift the tanks over the ship,

carefully lower them

into the specially shaped curved cradles.

The custom tanks have been produced in China and must be

installed with the utmost care.

If a tank is damaged during installation...

[loud thud]

...the team won't be able to build the rest of the ship

until a new tank is delivered.

It could delay the remaining construction work

by several months.

The tanks arrive from China on board a cargo ship.

They are unloaded at a nearby dock,

but must make the remaining journey to the shipyard by road.

The tanks are too large to be loaded onto trucks, so the team

must use special multi-wheeled heavy lift transporters.

♪♪

Under the cover of darkness, the enormous tanks slowly begin

their journey to the construction dock.

Workers carefully weave

the transporters through Saint-Nazaire's narrow streets.

They squeeze the tanks around the yard's tight bends

to reach the dockside close to the giant gantry crane.

The team pushes through the night to lift the tanks

on board the half-built vessel.

The following day, both tanks are safely in position.

[Gaetano] They take a lot of challenge in order to fit the tanks

inside the hull.

It's taken a lot of time, but finally,

all went well,

and the tank are fitted inside the space

without any problem.

Now the shipyard can continue to piece together more of

the liner's huge megablocks.

It takes around 17 months for the shipyard to install all of

the vessel's 59 mammoth megablocks,

including the uniquely curved ship's bow,

the captain's bridge,

and the supports that will hold the propellers.

As the bare skeleton of the ship begins to take shape,

work on the interior is just around the corner.

As the bare skeleton of this massive cruise ship

takes shape, work on the interior begins.

Didier Dupont oversees the installation of thousands

of crew and passenger cabins on all of the yard's new ships.

[speaking French]

Engineers must exploit every inch of space onboard

a cruise ship to ensure they can

accommodate as many passengers as possible.

[speaking French]

Didier and the team face a Herculean challenge.

It would take years to build and furnish

each individual cabin onboard a vessel one by one.

The team would never hit their deadline,

and the ship would miss its maiden voyage.

[man] Go!

To solve this problem, the team has developed

an innovative solution at this special factory near the yard.

When you come here, you are in the cabin factory.

So, in this factory, we produce all the prefabricated cabins

for world-class projects.

Thomaz Liernan oversees a team of 250 workers who carefully

preassemble each one of World Europa's 2,626 cabins

before they're installed in the ship.

It's a very, very big cruise ship with 4,000 cabins

to produce and everything on time, so to do that, we have

to produce here in the factory

about one cabin every 20 minutes.

The assembly of each cabin begins with the wet unit

that houses the shower, sink, and toilet.

[power tool whirring]

Workers bolt the cabins together piece by piece,

just like flat-packed furniture,

on this special production line.

At the end of this production line, the wet unit

is completely finished.

You have just to connect the water and electricity

and you can use it.

Workers fit the faucets, mirror, and shower head to

the unit's walls, then lift them into place.

[Thomaz] Now, we will use this wet unit to produce the cabins.

The cabins move along the production line,

so separate teams can install the desk, bed, and electronics.

It is very, very challenge for us in the factory to have

the cabin and the wet unit without any missing element inside.

This is the real challenge for us.

After an astonishing 20 minutes,

the cabin is complete.

Only the carpet and some furniture are left

to install on board.

[Thomaz] OK, so now this is the cabin, completely finished.

So the cabin, it will be ready to go on board.

As you see, everything is protected.

When we will do the inspection at the end, we will not

discover some scratches, something damaged.

So, we try to protect everything.

Keeping an eye on the quality of Thomaz's cabins

is Deborah Byrne.

I will show you this cabin.

Deborah works with the factory to ensure that the team in

the shipyard receives the cabins to install without

any defects or missing parts.

It's fabulous.

This is a new prototype, so it's completely new for --

for all of us in this project.

We obviously have to keep on our toes because

being a prototype, sometimes there's a possibility

that what we see on paper, once it's actually been built,

it could be some of that doesn't quite work.

So, it's very important that

we pick up on any of these points.

So, you see now the vanity is new like that.

Oh, and I can see the alignment now is

much better. -[Thomaz] The alignment here is good.

No gap.

[Deborah] Obviously, this, now the sharpness is gone,

and we've managed to do that part much better. -[Thomaz] Yeah.

-[Deborah] And the hairdryer? -[Thomaz] The hairdryer, yes.

Dryer, you can remove.

[indistinct] is protected.

-And the hairdryer is working already! -Ah, so it's -- perfect!

-Perfect, and this is the bracket for the TV? -Yeah, bracket for the TV.

This cabin is signed off and ready for installation.

Everything seems to be going well, but we are at that

critical stage where we have to be sure we're always

on our toes.

We keep the shipyard on their toes as well, because any

slight delay will have a knock-on effect

for all the other cabins.

The final task?

Shrink wrap the cabin to protect it during its short

journey to the shipyard.

[Thomaz] Every cruise ship is different.

At each time, it's a new story.

Sometimes new problems, new difficulties,

but always a new challenge, and always you have the target

to deliver the ship on time with the best quality we can.

On the west coast of France,

a team of 3,000 shipbuilders is racing to build

a nearly 1,100-foot-long, ocean-going Goliath.

More than 20 months after construction work began,

the bare frame of the ship is complete.

Its exterior has been painted,

and the engines have been installed.

Before the team can load the cabins,

complete the swimming pools,

lounges, and shopping promenade,

they need to move the vessel to a different dock to allow for

easier access to install and test

the ship's vital equipment.

To do this, they must first attach the ship's two huge

propellers beneath the stern.

[Gaetano] World Europa have two propeller for propulsion.

The design was done

in terms to optimize all vibration and comfort on board.

The challenge for the ship's engineers

was to design propellers that provide the best performance

without compromising passenger comfort.

In 1907, during the sea trials

of the transatlantic liner the Lusitania,

the world's biggest ship at that time,

strong vibrations were detected throughout the vessel.

The vibrations were so severe that parts of the ship

were uninhabitable.

Investigations revealed the vibrations came from

the ship's propellers.

It was caused by a phenomenon known as cavitation.

The way to avoid the cavitation is mainly

the design of the blade that are done in such a way to avoid

this particular phenomenon on the propeller.

Cavitation can occur when a propeller rotates and creates

an area of low pressure on the back of the blades,

causing tiny bubbles of vapor to form.

When these bubbles collapse, they send shock waves through

the water and onto the ship's hull,

creating uncomfortable vibrations on board.

To keep the ship from vibrating, engineers must

design its propellers to eliminate cavitation.

They slow the speed at which the propellers rotate.

This reduces the area of low pressure,

but also slows down the ship.

To compensate, they design the propellers

with five blades.

They increase their size, shape, and distance

from the hull.

These large, slower-rotating propellers

should ensure the ship glides smoothly through the water

without any unpleasant vibrations.

The propellers will slot onto two shaft lines that run

through the hull to the engine rooms.

[Gaetano] Here we have a big shaft line of more than 60 meters

connecting the propeller to the electric motors.

Engineers use a hydraulic ram

to position the shafts inside the hull.

The ram grips the shaft and slowly inches it into

the ship, sliding it towards the engine room,

where it's connected to the drive motors.

Now the team can attach the propellers.

Each propeller is crafted from a specially cast and milled

nickel aluminum alloy.

They use chains to carefully lift each 26-ton propeller onto

the end of the shafts.

It takes great care and precision to slot them into

place behind the ship's giant rudders.

With the propellers attached,

the hull of World Europa is finally complete.

The shipyard can now move the $1.3 billion prototype

out of the construction dock for the first time.

[indistinct chatter]

Workers fill the dock with seawater to float the vessel.

And call in six tugs to maneuver the mammoth ship,

with its futuristic bow design,

to her new home,

where work on the interior spaces can ramp up.

Workers spring into action the following morning.

[power tool buzzing]

They race to install and furnish the ship's nine shops,

13 restaurants, and 20 bars,

including a lavish lounge at the rear of the vessel.

The team installs the world's longest onboard dry slide,

a colossal casino,

and they fire up the open-air promenade's futuristic lighting.

But dockside, Didier Dupont's team

is racing against the clock

to install a shipment of cabins just arriving from the factory.

Dockside, Didier Dupont's team is racing against the clock

to unwrap and install a shipment of cabins

arriving from the factory.

[Didier speaking French]

To keep on top of the constant stream of cabins,

Didier and his team use an innovative method to load

them on board.

The ship is built with a series of large holes

in its side on each deck.

The holes provide easy access to install a deck's worth of

cabins on board.

The yard attaches a giant lift to the outside of the vessel to

reach each hole.

So workers can load and lift each cabin unit onto the ship.

Special rollers allow the team to push the cabins on board,

squeezing them through bulkheads

and around tight corners,

sliding them into position, one after the other.

Once a deck has all its cabins on board, workers fill the hole

to seal the level.

[speaking French]

The forklift operators must ensure they place the cabins

onto the lift carefully so they don't damage or dislodge

the furnishings inside.

[Didier speaking French]

The team prepares to haul their fifteenth cabin

of the day through the ship.

The team wrestles the 2.2-ton cabin through the tight deck.

They must snake it through a labyrinth of corridors

and equipment that cram the ship's interior.

[speaking French]

[man] Go, go, go, [indistinct].

[Didier speaking French]

A second team welds each cabin to the deck floor

to lock them into place.

[speaking French]

It's hard but rewarding work for the team.

[Didier speaking French]

As the clock counts down towards delivery,

the pressure on the team ramps up.

[power tool buzzing]

Over the next few weeks,

workers scramble to finish the ship.

Engineers install colossal chandeliers.

Chefs sharpen their knife skills.

Waiters perfect their silver service.

And the entertainers rehearse their routines.

So, good morning. How are you?

Everything fine?

In charge of World Europa's guest experience

is Neven Zdunic.

Most beautiful part of my job is to dealing with the guest

and to make them happy, to realize their dreams.

Neven oversees every aspect of the onboard experience,

from reception to the entertainment and dining service.

We go straight to the heart of the hotel department,

reception, our staff that are working to prepare all

the things what they need to work with the guests.

Having onboard 6,700 guests, and of course, we are the one

who has to give them the direction where to go,

what to see, what to have, because it's very important for

us to understand well their needs.

One of Neven's customer experiences is a unique

chocolate and gelato cafe.

[Neven] As you can see, we are having here a huge space where we are

gonna sell our homemade chocolates and, of course,

together with that, homemade ice cream.

-[Neven] Ah, Jean, how is it going? -Everything's good, thank you.

All good? How is it going with the ice cream?

You know, it's going good.

We almost finished with recipes and digesting a little bit,

but I think they're pretty good.

-You want to try? -[Neven] Absolutely.

[Neven] Can we taste? This is my favorite flavor.

[Jean-Phillipe] So that's a raspberry flavor.

Our gelato are very straight, simple --

it's milk, cream.

You know, we use real chocolate.

We don't use, like, cocoa powder or whatever.

-It's really, you know... -[Neven] The real one.

[Jean-Phillipe] The real one.

If you're not in a good mood, just taste one gelato

from Jean-Phillipe, and then everything

will change in a better way.

Behind the scenes, Jean-Phillipe's staff is racing

to finish elaborate sculptures carved from solid chocolate

that will be featured throughout his café.

It's a sprint to the finish line for Neven's team to ensure

the ship is ready for its maiden voyage.

[Neven] Right now, concerning the construction,

the ship is almost ready.

Still, they are finishing all the details.

Our staff, they clean, they arrange the things,

they set up all the final items

which they need to put in the right place.

Finally, after 36 months of construction,

World Europa's delivery date arrives.

The brand-new $1.3 billion prototype,

with its ultra-modern bow design

and open-air promenade, is complete.

To celebrate this momentous achievement,

the shipyard welcomes company executives and the ship's crew

for a traditional delivery ceremony.

[announcer] And now, a big round of applause, first of all,

for this work of art.

Ladies and gentlemen, MSC World Europa!

[majestic music plays]

In a time-honored tradition,

the ship is blessed ahead of setting sail.

[speaking French]

[woman speaking French]

Go!

Si!

Mamma mia!

The colossal cruise ship is now ready to set sail to embark

passengers on her first full cruise.

From one side, we are sad for the leaving of the ship,

but on the other side, we are really proud of

the product we built together.

♪♪

One of the vessel's first ports of call is Dubai.

Here, the new ship and its crew will undertake

the ultimate test.

Will everything be ready to impress passengers

with high expectations?

On the west coast of France, a team must now load

a week's worth of food and drink

and ensure every cabin is supplied with fresh linens

for the thousands of guests due to board.

In the loading bay,

the team races to stock the giant ship with

its crucial provisions.

Today, we are gonna loading all the local supplier.

We're going to receive 22,000 kilo of meat,

3,000 kilo cheese,

10,000 liter milk,

45,000 fresh eggs,

and almost 18,000 kilo vegetable fresh.

Every week, we receive at least five or six containers

from Italy.

Liberato and his team must ensure around 385 tons of food

make it on board ahead of each week-long cruise.

As we can see, we receive a lot of pallets

that we load directly from the truck to the ship.

We're going to the storeroom, to the cellar fridge.

In the same time, we will check the quantity.

If we receive the quantity we requested.

Before the fruit and vegetables can be sent to

the onboard kitchens, a sample must be checked for

quality and freshness.

The watermelon

look like good.

We have to test if can be also sweet for give to our guest.

The quality of watermelon is very good.

-Sweet. -It's very sweet.

The grapes, the quality, it's...

-Small -- very small. -Very small.

It's under our standard quality.

But the taste is looking good.

It's so sweet.

We are going to make a quality discrepancy for this item

because the size can be more

bigger than this for the next time.

But the taste is very nice. It's very sweet.

As the mountain of fresh ingredients pile up...

Hello, welcome on board. Hello.

...at the check-in terminal, the pressure mounts for

the team as thousands of guests start to arrive,

eager to board and explore the new ship.

-[Anna] Passports, please. -[passenger] Yeah.

-[Anna] And documents. -[passenger] Yeah.

After three years of construction and more than

7 million hours of hard work,

this prototype for a brand-new class of cruise ship

is finally ready for its first full cruise.

[Neven] Today the ship is ready.

Everything is ready for the guests.

Everything is running in a perfect way.

And really, today we can say that this dream became true.

More than 4,000 guests can now explore the ship's 22 decks...

[passenger] Whoo!

...seven swimming pools,

and the chocolate cafe, complete with sculptures.

The following morning, the ship sets sail on

its maiden voyage around the Middle East.

[Trevor] My overall impressions of Europa, now that she's sailing

and we've finished it, is really pride that we've done

something that is so amazing, big, fuel efficient,

latest technologies, the best guest experience

that we can do.

It's thanks to the dedication and hard work of thousands

of designers, engineers, and onboard crew

that this colossal $1.3 billion cruise ship

is ready to sail the open oceans.

[ship horn blasts]