SunStone Ships, the largest tonnage provider in the expedition market, announced the successful delivery of their first next-generation, Infinity-class vessel – delivery was 24 days ahead of schedule.
With a goal of marrying European design and quality with Chinese ship-building efficiency, the Infinity-class delivers cutting-edge design, innovations like X-bow technology, and significant operating efficiencies.
SunStone President and CEO, Niels-Erik Lund, commented, “We are very pleased with the quality and high building standards of China Merchants Heavy Industry, which are fully at the level of European Shipyards. A quality this high will not go unnoticed in the cruise industry. We look forward to continuing our relationships with all our partners in the Infinity-class project, and we are moving fast forward as planned at very satisfactory speed, safety and quality level”.
The vessel will be chartered out to Aurora Expeditions, a world leader in expedition cruising and has been named after Aurora Expeditions’ adventurous co-founder.
The vessel has departed China Merchants Heavy Industry, Haimen, and is on its way to Singapore for a one day stop for further supplies, then a two day stop in Cape Town to get the remaining hotel crew and supplies onboard, and from there to Ushuaia where cruising will begin in late October as planned.
Infinity-class Vessels are 104 meters long, and 18 meters wide, having a draft of 5.1 meters. They feature a passenger capacity between 130-200 and a crew capacity between 85 and 115. The Vessels are Ice Class 1A, Polar Code 6 and are being built with Safe Return to Port, Dynamic Positioning and Zero Speed Stabilizers. The Vessels are featuring the X-Bow by Ulstein Design & Solutions. They are small enough to give an exclusive atmosphere and yet large enough to yield all expected services and facilities such as a swimming pool, bar and restaurants, lounges, boutique, gym and spa.
Current Infinity-class newbuilds under way after the delivery of Greg Mortimer are; the Ocean Victory with delivery October 2020, the Ocean Explorer with delivery January 2021, the Infinity-class vessel no. 7 (TBN) with delivery September 2021, the Ocean Odyssey with delivery March 2022, the Ocean Discoverer with delivery September 2022 and the Ocean Albatros with delivery October 2022. All vessels ordered have long-term charter agreements in place.
In addition to the seven vessels already ordered, SunStone has options to build another three Infinity-class vessels.
