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Fincantieri floats out Viking Jupiter in Ancona

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 10 May 2018 10 May 2018

Viking Jupiter, the sixth ocean cruise ship which Fincantieri is building for Viking, was floated out today at the shipyard in Ancona. Interior fittings will now begin, leading the vessel to its delivery, scheduled in 2019.

The float out was introduced by the traditional and well-wishing coin ceremony, consisting, according to an ancient maritime tradition, in welding a silver dollar on the top deck of the ship. Godmother of the ceremony was Sissel Kyrkjebø, the accomplished Norwegian singer.

The ceremony was attended for the shipowner by Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking, while Fincantieri was represented by Giovanni Stecconi, director of the shipyard.

The unit will be placed in the small cruise ship segment. As its sister ships, it will have a gross tonnage of about 47,800 tons, 465 cabins with accommodation for 930 passengers.

The Viking units are all built according to the latest navigation regulations and equipped with the most modern safety systems, including the “Safe return to port”. Furthermore, they feature the most advanced technologies for energy saving and for meeting the strictest environmental regulations with energy-efficient engines and an exhaust gas cleaning system.

The first of the series, Viking Star, has been built at the shipyard in Marghera and delivered in 2015. The other units, Viking Sea, Viking Sky and Viking Sun, which joined the shipowner’s fleet in 2016 and 2017, were all built at the Ancona yard, as the fifth ship, Viking Orion, which will be completed within the next few weeks. Other 10 units, including the one launched today, will take to the sea from the Group’s Italian yards between 2019 and 2027, while recently Fincantieri’s subsidiary, VARD, signed a letter of intent for the design and construction of two special cruise vessels to be built in its Norwegian yards, thus witnessing the bond of trust between the Fincantieri Group and the shipowner.

Silver Spirit emerges from the drydock 49 feet longer

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 09 May 2018 09 May 2018

On May 3, Silversea’s Silver Spirit left Fincantieri Shipyard in Palermo 49 feet longer, following the completion of a complex lengthening and refurbishment project. Having been cut in half, lengthened with the insertion of a pre-built section, and renovated extensively, Silver Spirit was greatly enhanced and has now embarked upon her inaugural voyage, which departed amid jubilation from Civitavecchia (Rome) on May 6.

Silver Spirit’s 59-day dry dock period ran with precision and according to its schedule, with roughly 1,000 skilled workers committing approximately 450,000 hours to ensure the lengthening’s punctual completion. With the aim of amplifying guests’ onboard experience in line with the successful design of Silversea’s flagship, Silver Muse, the lengthening project has brought the ship to an exceptional standard: among other improvements, stylish décor enhancements have brought superlative comfort and a sense of spaciousness to public areas and suites; the ship’s pool deck has been enlarged; a new eight-restaurant arrangement has increased dining options, with the introduction of Spaccanapoli, Silver Note, Atlantide, and Indochine, as well as the renovation of La Terrazza; and a number of new amenities have upgraded the onboard offering, including the Arts Café, Tor’s Observation Library, the Zagara Spa, the Panorama Lounge, and the chic Dolce Vita lounge.

Silversea is celebrating Silver Spirit’s maiden voyage with a number of onboard enrichments to mark the momentous occasion in the memories of guests. Bound for Barcelona, the inaugural itinerary is the first in a varied series of European voyages. In September, Silver Spirit will cross to North America, where she will remain until November. From then, she will welcome guests in the Caribbean.

“I appreciate the complexity of this feat of engineering,” comments Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, Silversea’s Chairman. “As such, I am extremely proud of the amazing job my team and Fincantieri have done. Our beloved Silver Spirit resumes service in a condition that is even more beautiful than before.”

Meyer Turku 2017 profit climbs to €32.2 million

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 09 May 2018 09 May 2018

Meyer Turku, the privately owned Finnish builder of cruise ships, has reported a rise in 2017 net profit to €32.2 million from €26.2 million in the previous year. Revenues rose to €807.7 million from €787.5 million.

The company is in the middle of a €200 million investment programme that includes a 1,200 ton lifting capacity gantry crane.

“ These good figures help us to prepare ourselves for the years to come and to increasingly tightening international competition,” CEO Jan Meyer said in a statement.

“We will be using operating profit to finance our big investments. By these investments we are building the Turku shipyard into a modern factory to assemble ships, we train our staff and further strengthen our team of shipbuilders,” he continued.

Carnival Maritime and ENSM in training agreement

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 08 May 2018 08 May 2018

Carnival Maritime GmbH of Hamburg, Germany, and the ENSM French Maritime Academy of Le Havre and Marseille, France, have agreed on cooperation to ensure future high standards in nautical and technical training of cadets, Carnival group said in a statement.

The aim of this close collaboration is to train the next generation of qualified officers for the cruise industry and their future responsibilities, based on both the nautical and the technical IMO curriculum at the ENSM. The first cadets from the ENSM have already been selected and will join the crew on board Costa Group ships at the end of June 2018.

Carnival Maritime is part of Carnival Corporation & plc group, the world’s largest cruise shipping company.

Fincantieri first quarter revenues, EBITDA rise, sees full year results in line with target

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 08 May 2018 08 May 2018

Fincantieri, the listed Italian shipbuilding company that is the world’s largest builder of cruise vessels, said it expects its full year results to meet objectives as both revenues and EBITDA increased in the first quarter of the year.

Revenues rose to €167 million in the first three months of the year from €97 million in the same period year on, while EBITDA increase to €15 million from €11 million.

“The year-on-year growth is mainly attributable to the increase in the volumes of the cruise ships business due to the larger size of the vessels under construction (with cruise ship revenues now accounting for approximately 47% of the Group's revenues before consolidation adjustments),” the company said in a statement.

Shipbuilding margins confirm the positive trend, reporting further improvements due to the construction of more profitable cruise ships and to the positive contribution of the advancement of the activities related to Italian Navy's fleet renewal program

“Full year 2018 results are expected to be consistent with the 2018-2022 Business Plan targets. For 2018, the Group confirms a growth in revenues of 3/6% and an EBITDA margin around 7.5%, mainly related to higher profitability in shipbuilding,” Fincantieri said.