STX and Viking finalise cruise ferry contract

The order was first reported in the December 2010 issue of The Motorship. The agreement includes an option for a sister ship. The contract price is about €240 million ($240 million) and the new ship will be built at Turku shipyard for delivery at the beginning of 2013.

The agreement will represent about 2600 man-years of employment for STX Europe. The ship is designed to use LNG as fuel and the yard claims that it will be the ‘greenest’ cruise ferry afloat, with no marine emissions, extremely low exhaust emissions, minimal wave formation and low noise.