Perno shipyard

[2][3] Wärtsilä's shipbuilding grew heavily in the 1960s and over time the old yard area on both banks of the Aura river that runs through Turku became too small.

When Tankmar Horn was appointed general manager of Wärtsilä in 1971, the idea of a modern "ship factory" started to evolve, inspired by the Swedish Götaverken Arendal yard.

[4] The area selected for the new yard was in Perno, then part of Raisio, some 10 km (6.2 mi) from the centre of Turku.

[4] Despite the tough endeavour, the first ship of Wärtsilä Perno Shipyard, Gas Rising Sun (NB 1229) was handed over no earlier than 1978.

Hulls were now constructed from large modules and an increasing proportion of welding and sheet metal work was performed indoors.

At that time Perno yard had only one non-started project on its order book, cruise ship NB 1294 to be delivered in 1988.

[7] The sudden growth in their order book, together with errors in price calculations and other reasons, led to the bankruptcy of Wärtsilä Marine on 23 October 1989.

The cruiseferry Cinderella was nearly ready and handed over just six days after the bankruptcy, when the shipowner SF-Line made the last payment.

[7] On 7 November 1989, just two weeks after the bankruptcy, a new company was started by Helsinki yard manager Martin Saarikangas.

The company name was Masa-Yards Oy and the owners were state of Finland, Suomen Yhdyspankki and shipowners of which ships laid unfinished at the Perno and Helsinki yards.

In 2004 it was announced that the Perno and Helsinki yards operated by Kværner Masa-Yards, and Rauma shipyard, already owned by Aker before, were merged into one organisation.