Tag Archives: Italian shipbuilder

Fincantieri Finalizes Shipbuilding Contracts with Virgin Worth 2 Billion Euros

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File Photo: Sir Richard Branson with Virgin Voyages' President and CEO Tom McAlpin as he arrives by helicopter for a news conference at the Perez Art Museum in Miami, Florida June 23, 2015. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
File Photo: Sir Richard Branson with Virgin Voyages’ President and CEO Tom McAlpin as he arrives by helicopter for a news conference at the Perez Art Museum in Miami, Florida June 23, 2015. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

By gCaptain.com

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri says it has finalized construction contracts for three new cruise ships worth a combined 2 billion euros with Virgin Voyages, the new cruise ship arm of Virgin Group.

The three ships will be built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Sestri Ponente (Genoa), Italy with delivery scheduled for 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Each ship will weigh about 110,000 gross tons, be 278 meters long and 38 wide. The ships will feature over 1,400 guest cabins that can host more than 2,800 passengers, accompanied by 1,100 crew members on board to deliver the famed Virgin service.

Based in South Florida, Virgin Voyages, formerly Virgin Cruises, is backed by lead investors Bain Capital Private Equity and London-based Virgin Group, whose founder and CEO is billionaire Sir Richard Branson. The shipbuilding contracts were first signed October but depended on closing of the multi-billion dollar financing package.

Steel cutting on the first of the three new ships is scheduled for early 2017, followed by keel laying in Genoa in the fourth quarter of 2017.

“These ships will stand out for original design and craftsmanship,” Fincantieri said in a statement Tuesday. “They will include some highly innovative ideas and design solutions, notably for energy recovery, reducing the overall environmental impact. For example, they will be equipped with an energy production system of approximately 1 MW, which uses the diesel engine’s waste heat. The result is, therefore, a project which distinguishes Virgin Voyages in the worldwide cruise scenery.”

Virgin Voyages’ first ship is expected to arrive at PortMiami in 2020 for a range of Caribbean itineraries.

Carnival Finalizes Contracts to Build Five New Cruise Ships at Fincantieri

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MS Koningsdam sea trials. Photo: Holland America
MS Koningsdam sea trials. Photo: Holland America

A big weekend for the world’s largest cruise company as Carnival Corporation finalizes contracts with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri to build five new cruise ships costing more than $3.4 billion.

The final order adds a fifth ship to a memorandum of agreement between Carnival and Fincantieri announced in December 2015 calling for the construction of just four ships by 2020.  

The ships include two that will be built for Costa Asia for deployment in China, two for Princess Cruises and one designated for P&O Cruises Australia, with deliveries expected in 2019 and 2020, Carnival said over the weekend.

Fincantieri confirmed that the total value of the contracts exceeds 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion).

The contracts were formalized during a signing ceremony held Saturday as part of the official handover ceremony for Holland America Line’s MS Koningsdam at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Marghera, Italy.

The new ships for both Costa Asia and P&O Cruises Australia are expected to be 135,500-ton vessels with the capacity to carry 4,200 passengers. The 143,700-ton, 3,560-passenger ships for Princess Cruises will be the brand’s fourth and fifth Royal-class vessels, featuring the same design used on Royal Princess, Regal Princess and the new Majestic Princess coming in 2017.

The five new ships across three brands will be built at Fincantieri’s shipyards in Monfalcone and Marghera, Italy.

Carnival Corporation has now taken delivery of two new ships in 2016 – AIDAprima for AIDA Cruises and MS Koningsdam for Holland America Line. Including the five just ordered, Carnival Corporation has a total of 16 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2016 and 2020.

“Today has been especially exciting for our company, our partners and our guests, as we celebrated the arrival of our amazing MS Koningsdam ship and officially signed agreements with Fincantieri to build five new cruise ships for the future,” said Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald at Saturday’s ceremony. “Supporting our goal to exceed guest expectations on every cruise, these new ships will create a whole new level of excitement and opportunity to deliver experiences that our guests will not only remember for the rest of their lives, but will also share with others. 

Using our strategic fleet enhancement plan to delight our guests is an important part of our measured growth strategy, which includes replacing less efficient ships with newer, larger and more efficient vessels over a very specific period of time.”

The finalized contract with Fincantieri is a result of the memorandum of agreement announced by Carnival Corporation and Fincantieri in December 2015, and builds on the larger strategic shipbuilding partnership announced by the two companies in March 2015. 

Specific ship features and deployment details will be announced by each brand at a future date.