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Carnival Orders Five Ships from Fincantieri

Koningsdam
Koningsdam float out

Published Apr 2, 2016 5:24 PM by The Maritime Executive

On Saturday, Carnival Corporation finalized contracts with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri to build five new cruise ships as part of a memorandum of agreement announced in 2015. The five new ships include two that will be built for Costa Asia for deployment in China, two ships for Princess Cruises and one designated for P&O Cruises Australia, with deliveries expected in 2019 and 2020.

The new ships for both Costa Asia and P&O Cruises Australia are expected to be 135,500-ton vessels with the capacity to carry 4,200 passengers. The 143,700-ton, 3,560-passenger ships for Princess Cruises will be the brand's fourth and fifth Royal-class vessels, featuring the successful design platform used on Royal Princess, Regal Princess and the new Majestic Princess coming in 2017.

The five new ships across three brands will be built at Fincantieri's shipyards in Monfalcone and Marghera, Italy.

Carnival Corporation has now taken delivery of two new ships in 2016 – AIDAprima for AIDA Cruises and Koningsdam for Holland America Line. Including the five new ships highlighted during Saturday’s signing ceremony with Fincantieri, Carnival Corporation has a total of 16 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2016 and 2020.

The P&O Cruises Australia ship, the brand's first-ever newbuild construction, will be designed to capture the essence of modern Australia and will feature the largest passenger capacity of any ship in the line's fleet, serving 4,200 passengers. The new ship will join an already growing fleet that was recently expanded with the addition of Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden in November 2015, and will see the introduction of the 2,000-passenger Pacific Explorer in 2017. 

Australia is one of the fastest growing cruise markets in the world, with an average annual passenger growth rate of 20 percent over the past decade, and the enhanced fleet for P&O Cruises Australia will help meet growing cruise demand in the region.

The contracts were formalized during a signing ceremony held as part of the official handover ceremony for Holland America Line's Koningsdam at Fincantieri's shipyard in Marghera, Italy, attended by Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Graziano Delrio, Carnival Corporation Chairman Micky Arison, Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald and Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono.

Also in attendance were Stein Kruse, CEO of Holland America Group, which includes the company's Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia and Seabourn brands; Michael Thamm, CEO of Costa Group, which includes AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises and Costa Asia; Neil Palomba, president of Costa Cruises; and Orlando Ashford, president of Holland America Line.