VikingOcean Cruises and Fincantieri signed a memorandum of agreement for the construction of two additional cruise ships, with an option for another two.
The new builds will be sister ships to the six already ordered and will enter Viking fleet in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The final contracts will become effective upon the fulfilment of financing and other customary closing conditions.
The new ships will follow the same successful and award-winning design as the current ships ordered and in operation. The entire fleet is comprised of all-veranda staterooms; each ship has a gross tonnage of 47,800 tons and accommodates 930 guests in 465 cabins. As with the other sister ships, the new ships will be built according to the latest navigation regulations and equipped with the most modern safety systems, including the “Safe return to port” system.
The first ship built for Viking Ocean Cruises, Viking Star® was delivered at the shipyard in Marghera in spring 2015. The second and the third ships, Viking Sea® and Viking Sky®, took the sea from the yard in Ancona, respectively, in early 2016 and early 2017. Viking will take delivery of the fourth ship, Viking Sun®, in late 2017 and the fifth ship, Viking Spirit®, in 2018. A sixth, yet-to-be-named ship will be delivered in 2019, marking Viking as the largest small ship ocean cruise line.
Viking is forecasted to have a dominant market share of the luxury ocean industry in 2020 of 23.9% (on a per berth basis according to Cruise Industry News). The additional vessels will add to this already impressive statistic.