Carnival adds newbuildings for P&O Cruises Australia and Princess after Costa Asia deal

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 31 December 2015 31 December 2015

Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilder, has signed a memorandum of agreement with Carnival Corporation & plc for the construction of four new cruise ships of an overall value of about €2.5 billion euros. “The final contracts, subject to several conditions, including satisfactory shipowner financing, are expected to be executed in 2016,” the shipbuilder said in a statement.

Two ships will be built for the Costa Asia brand, as unveiled on 30 December (see separate article), one for P&O Cruises Australia and one for Princess Cruises. The four units will all be built at the shipyards in Monfalcone and Marghera, with deliveries scheduled in 2019 and 2020. “Once entered into service in their respective fleets, they will serve growing cruise markets, including China, Australia and others,” the company said.

The newbuilding for P&O Cruises Australia will be the first such vessel to enter service with the Sydney based company. It currently operates five vessels, all second hand transfers, with a sixth due from Princess cruises in 2017.

Each unit will be designed and developed specifically for the brand and for its reference guests. The 135,500 gross ton Costa Asia and P&O Cruises' ships will carry 4,200 passengers. Princess Cruises’ new 143,700 gross ton ship will carry 3,560 passengers and will be its fourth Royal Princess class vessel.

Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, stated: “The signing of this agreement happens during a real and beyond all expectations boom of the cruise sector. This announcement confirms, once again, the effectiveness of our strategy: with these projects, based on those of the prototype units acquired in extremely challenging conditions, we ensure our group not only continuity and development, but also a new-found profitability in this segment”.

“We will deliver on our fleet enhancement plan with the construction of these four new ships, that are consistent with our long-term strategy of measured capacity growth over time,” said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc.

“These ships will be great additions to our fleet that support our goal to exceed guest expectations and create great vacation memories for each guest onboard our ships. These strategic investments in new ships that wow our guests are 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,” he said in the statement.

Costa orders two 135,500 gross ton newbuildings for Costa Asia at Fincantieri

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 30 December 2015 30 December 2015

The Costa Group said it had signed an agreement with Fincantieri to build two ships for Costa Asia brand, with final contracts expected to be executed in 2016. The ships, each with 135,500 gross tons and carrying 4,200 guests, will be built in Italy. They will be specifically designed for the Chinese market, joining the fleet in 2019 and 2020.

“Costa Asia new ships are part of a memorandum of agreement signed by Carnival Corporation & plc with Fincantieri to build four new ships by 2020 at the company’s shipyards in Monfalcone and Marghera, Italy,” the company said in a statement.

Carnival group said in the spring it would order five vessels at Fincantieri and four at Meyer in the course of this year. The company has since unveiled the Meyer orders, with two ships to be built at Papenburg and two for Turku.

Thanks to the new agreement announced today, the Costa Group has eight new ships on order with a total capacity of 45,000 berths (four for the German brand Aida Cruises; two for the Italian brand Costa Cruises; two for Costa Asia), bringing the total capacity of the fleet to 110,000 berths.

“We are happy to continue our long-standing strategic partnership with the Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. This new investment is expected to create wealth and employment for the Italian country as a whole. As for Costa Diadema, the latest Costa ship built by Fincantieri and the best expression of Italy’s finest, also Costa Asia ships will feature an innovative Italian style design. In addition this new agreement will allow us to continue significantly build the Chinese cruise market, which will become the second largest in the world at the end of the decade” - said Michael Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group.

The Costa Group was the first cruise company to enter the Chinese market back in 2006. Three Costa ships are currently deployed in China and Asia year-round: Costa Atlantica, Costa Victoria and Costa Serena. A fourth ship, Costa Fortuna, will be added in April 2016.