STX Finland Oy has secured an order for an environmentally friendly, new generation cruise ferry from Viking Line, STX Europe press service said. The contract worth about EUR 240m includes construction of a ferry and a sister ship in option. The vessel will be built at Turku shipyard and will be delivered to Viking Line at the beginning of 2013. The signed agreement represents approximately 2600 man-years employment.
The new cruise ferry will be the most environmentally friendly big passenger vessel to date. The vessel uses LNG as fuel and it has no marine emissions and its aerial emissions are extremely low. The vessel has been specially designed to operate in the delicate and shallow waters of the Finnish and Swedish archipelago. The wave forming and noise generation have been minimized.
The cruise ferry is about 214 meters in length with a gross tonnage of 57 000. The ship is planned to have capacity for 2800 passengers and will be operated by a 200-member crew. The vessel, which is full of innovative and new solutions, has 880 passenger cabins. It has 1275 lane-meters for trucks and a separate car deck with approximately 500 lane-meters for passenger cars. Additional room for passenger cars can be found on the hoistable car decks.
The President of STX Finland Oy, Juha Heikinheimo says, "The signed agreement is an indication of the competence that the Finnish shipbuilding cluster has as a builder of innovative and highly environmentally friendly ships. I am delighted that we get the opportunity to build at Turku Shipyard a cruise ferry for our domestic shipping company Viking Line to operate between Turku and Stockholm"." The design of the new ship will start immediately at Turku shipyard, and the actual building of the ship starts during fall 2011," continues Heikinheimo.
The new cruise ferry will be the most environmentally friendly big passenger vessel to date. The vessel uses LNG as fuel and it has no marine emissions and its aerial emissions are extremely low. The vessel has been specially designed to operate in the delicate and shallow waters of the Finnish and Swedish archipelago. The wave forming and noise generation have been minimized.
The cruise ferry is about 214 meters in length with a gross tonnage of 57 000. The ship is planned to have capacity for 2800 passengers and will be operated by a 200-member crew. The vessel, which is full of innovative and new solutions, has 880 passenger cabins. It has 1275 lane-meters for trucks and a separate car deck with approximately 500 lane-meters for passenger cars. Additional room for passenger cars can be found on the hoistable car decks.
The President of STX Finland Oy, Juha Heikinheimo says, "The signed agreement is an indication of the competence that the Finnish shipbuilding cluster has as a builder of innovative and highly environmentally friendly ships. I am delighted that we get the opportunity to build at Turku Shipyard a cruise ferry for our domestic shipping company Viking Line to operate between Turku and Stockholm"." The design of the new ship will start immediately at Turku shipyard, and the actual building of the ship starts during fall 2011," continues Heikinheimo.
STX Europe Group's STX Finland Oy has three shipyards in Finland, located in Turku, Rauma and Helsinki(50%). The Group is focused on building cruise vessels, ferries, offshore and other specialized vessels. The group has a strong position in terms of developing state-of-the-art concepts, technology, processes and products for customers around the world. STX Europe has approximately 16,000 employees.