Irving to build cruise ship

The Halifax Shipyard of Irving Shipbuilding is getting back into building ships with a contract to build a small cruise ship for Pearl Sea Cruises of Connecticut. Although there is no firm commitment on a second vessel, it is expected another ship will be also be built in Halifax.

Charles Robertson, president of Pearl Sea, an offshore affiliate of American Cruise Lines, said the first vessel will accommodate 166 passengers and a second 210. It will be “very high-end cruising,” he said. The first vessel will be delivered in the spring of 2008 and ready for that summer?s cruise season. Although the cruise itinerary has not been finalized, the ship will offer cruises around Atlantic Canada and up the St. Lawrence River.

When the second vessel is built, one will operate in the British Isles and the Baltic while the other will be back in the waters off Atlantic Canada and New England. Robertson would not disclose the cost of building the ships, which will be registered in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. As they will not operate in the U.S. domestic market, they will not fall under the Jones Act, which specifies that vessels operating within the States must be built and registered in the U.S.

Irving spokeswoman Mary Keith said Irving has a commitment to build an 87-metre vessel. Construction, she said, will be split between the Halifax Shipyard and Irving?s Woodside facility in Dartmouth. “Halifax will do the marine structure and Woodside will work on the accommodation units.” Construction is to start in March.The last new vessel built at the Halifax yard was a tug for a Danish company in 2004-05.