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Mein Schiff 3 floated out, 65% complete

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 08 November 2013 08 November 2013

Mein Schiff 3, the first of two newbuildings TUI Cruises in Hamburg has on order at STX Finland in Turku, is now 65% complete, according to CEO of the shipbuilder. The ship was floated out earlier today.

“We are currently at a stage of 65% ” according to Jari Anttila, CEO of the STX Finland Oy. “This means that we are on schedule with our work on Mein Schiff 3.” Thanks to its typical dark blue coat of paint, the ship can already be clearly recognised as belonging to the Mein Schiff family; even the emblem of Mein Schiff 3, the diamond, is resplendent and clearly visible on the stern," he said in a statement.

By December all of the 1,253 cabins on board will have been installed. In January 2014 the main engines will then be started for the first time. As early as spring 2014, the comprehensive crew training will take place in Turku. At the same time, the identical sister ship Mein Schiff 4 is also growing according to plan. Its steel blocks are currently being completed. Keel laying is due to take place in early 2014.

“Now that the outer and interior areas are due to be completed, our well-being ship is taking shape bit by bit” says Richard J Vogel, CEO of TUI Cruises.

P&O Cruises postpones Azura dry docking to 2015, adds three October 2014 itineraries

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 08 November 2013 08 November 2013

P&O Cruises, the British contemporary market unit in the Carnival Corp & plc group, says it has postponed dry docking of the 115,015 gross ton Azura until 2015 and hence it has announced three new cruises on the family friendly ship in October 2014.

The new itineraries on the 2010 built ship are:

· A two-night short break cruise departing October 13, 2014 (A426N). Prices start from £199 per person.
· A 10-night Atlantic Coast/Iberia cruise departing October 15, 2014 (A427N). Prices start from £949 per person.
· A six-night cruise break departing October 25, 2014 (A427P). Prices start from £599 per person.

The cruises replace Azura’s planned dry dock for 2014, which has been moved to 2015. The two-night cruise departing October 13, 2014 (A426N) replaces a two-night cruise departing October 29, 2014(A427). Customers who are currently booked on A427 are being notified of the change of date and offered A426N, an alternative two-night cruise or cancellation free of charge.

P&O Cruises Select Price fares launched November 4, 2013 and are the new headline fares offering premium value with flexible booking conditions. Customers will be able to specify their cabin number and have the highest priority choice of dining time and table size, as well as cabin upgrades subject to availability. The fare is also inclusive of shuttle buses (where available in ports of call) and a choice of one of the following: onboard credit, car parking or coach transfers to the port of Southampton.

Azura’s facilities include four pools, Oasis Spa with thermal suite, The Retreat open-air spa terrace, large gym, sports court, golf nets, age-specific children’s clubs, outdoor cinema and a variety of restaurants and bars including Sindhu fine dining restaurant by Michelin starred chef Atul Kochhar and The Glass House grill and bar with wines selected by TV expert Olly Smith.

3i acquires controlling interest in Scandlines

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 08 November 2013 08 November 2013

3i Group plc, an international investor with headquarters in London, says it has signed an agreement with existing co-shareholder, Allianz Capital Partners (“ACP”), the captive, alternative asset investment platform of Allianz Group, to acquire their stake in Scandlines. 3i, and funds managed by 3i, will consequently become majority shareholders.

Scandlines, which operates short haul services in Southern Baltic, signed a letter or intent with STX Finland earlier this year to build two large ferries for its Rostock-Gedser service, but final contract has not been signed so far.

3i, and funds managed by 3i, are investing €165m to facilitate the acquisition of ACP’s 49% stake in Scandlines, one of the largest ferry operators in the Baltic Sea. The closing of the transaction is expected to take place before the year end, the company said in a statement.

As part of 3i’s acquisition of ACP’s stake, the company has successfully refinanced its current debt facilities into a new €875m package. This has been well received in the debt capital markets and provides a firm foundation for Scandlines’ future strategic objectives.

3i and ACP initially invested in Scandlines in June 2007, acquiring 40% of the shares each. They subsequently acquired Deutsche Seereederei’s 20% stake in 2010.

Over the last six years, 3i and ACP have taken a pro-active approach to their investment in Scandlines, progressing a number of initiatives including strengthening the management team, introducing operational improvement programmes and refining the business concept with an increased focus on the customer experience as well as yield management.

Under 3i and ACP’s stewardship, Scandlines has been transformed from a state-owned, diversified company to a focused, short sea route specialist. In 2011, the company disposed of its long-distance freight routes to Stena to focus on its core business. The decision to build two new ferries for the Rostock-Gedser route will provide increased capacity to capture the corridor growth driven by Central and Eastern European traffic.

TUI Cruises' Mein Schiff 3 launched in Turku

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 08 November 2013 08 November 2013

The float-out of Mein Schiff 3, an environmentally friendly cruise ship being built for TUI Cruises, was performed at STX Turku Shipyard on Friday 8 November 2013. At the press conference held at STX Finland Oy's Turku Shipyard earlier the same day, Richard J. Vogel, CEO of TUI Cruises and Jari Anttila, Deputy CEO of STX Finland Oy were pleased to speak about the important milestone Mein Schiff 3 project reached on that particular day.

One year ago, the start of production of newbuilding 1383 was celebrated at Turku Shipyard. Mein Schiff 3 is scheduled for delivery in spring 2014. Her sister ship NB 1384, Mein Schiff 4, is currently under production and she will be delivered one year after Mein Schiff 3. The building periods of these two ships are record-breaking tight. New building practises with high block outfitting ratio and modularisation have been utilised more than ever. New innovative and efficient building concepts, such as the outer decks concept, have proved to be successful.

Mein Shiff 3 and her sister ship Mein Shiff 4 are sophisticated and highly innovative 99,000 gross ton cruise ships. Once completed, these cruise ships will be approx. 295 metres long and approx. 36 metres wide. They will both have 1,253 staterooms (2,500 lower beds) and have a crew of 1,000. The cruise ships will have many environmentally friendly features. The combined system for treating exhaust gases minimizes sulphur, nitrogen oxide, fine dust and soot emissions. Compliance with the safe return to port requirement includes also additional passenger comfort features. Particular emphasis has been put on the ship's energy efficiency. Therefore the ship consumes around 30% less energy compared to cruise ships of similar sizes.

Before the ship got water under her keel the very first time, the invited guests had an opportunity to visit at the bottom of the dry dock and see the ship from a rare perspective. The float-out ceremony was witnessed by representatives of TUI Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, STX Finland and the classification society Det Norske Veritas, as well as invited guests and members of the press.

"We are very pleased to float out this superb cruise ship according to schedule. After this float-out, the work will continue very intensively with final installation of the various systems of the ship and interior outfitting. The ship will be ready for delivery to the customer in spring of 2014," says Jari Anttila, Deputy CEO of STX Finland Oy.

Mein Schiff 3 will be featured in Cruise Business Review 3/2013 and 2/2014 issues.

Photo credit: Jouni Saaristo

Three Costa ships being refitted in Genoa

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 07 November 2013 07 November 2013

As part of the ongoing investments program on quality and sustainability on Costa brand fleet, in November 2013 three Costa Cruises' ships are scheduled to arrive in Genoa for planned maintenance.

Costa Cruises is investing a total of more than 10 million euro for these works, that will be performed at San Giorgio del Porto shipyard in Genoa, one of the international leaders for ship repairs and refitting. There are also significant benefits in terms of employment: maintenance works will involve over 100 people, mainly from the contracted suppliers commissioned both locally and beyond.

The first two Costa ships in the yard are the Costa Voyager (24,400 gross tons), from November 7 for about two weeks, and the Costa neoRiviera (48,200 gross tons), from November 7 through November 12; the third will be the Costa Classica (53,000 gross tons), from November 12 through December 21.

Operations will include hull & engine section for the Costa Voyager, while work on the Costa Classica is routine maintenance, performed on an average of two and half years, involving both the hull & engine section and the hotel section.

As regard to the Costa neoRiviera, the ship was previously operated as the Grand Mistral as a member of the fleet belonging to Iberocruceros, the Spanish brand owned by the Costa Crociere S.p.A. Group. Operations scheduled include, besides hull and engine, renovations to her open-air decks and the guest areas inside, thus adding to the charming atmosphere reminiscent of the Italian and French Rivieras.