Vard to build first cruise ships

It has been signed with French ship owner PONANT which is a Subsidiary of Artemis Group, at Seatrade Cruise Global in Fort Lauderdale, US.

“The agreement announced today is of the utmost importance for the entire Fincantieri Group,” said Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincanteri.

He continued: “Our shipyards dedicated to the construction of cruise ships would not have been able to accept these new vessels for several years, given the current workload.”

The four exploration cruise vessels will be 128m long, 18m wide and approximately 10,000 gross tonnes.

They will accommodate 180 passengers on board with a 110-member crew. Delivery is scheduled in Norway for between summer 2018 and 2019.

“Thanks to this strategy we can moreover strengthen our leadership in the small and mid-sized luxury vessels segment, as well as provide for the supply of fundamental ship parts built in Italy, like cabins and other areas aimed at the passengers,” Mr Bono concluded.

Since 2010, Fincantieri has already built four vessels for PONANT, Le Boréal, L’Austra, Le Soléa and Le Lyrial.