MV Werften, which is part of the Genting Hong Kong group, says it has signed a letter of intent with the Finnish engineering company Foreship in Stralsund today.
"The agreement includes parts of the basic design as well as design, purchasing and production assistance of the Endeavor class luxury expedition yachts. The 20,000 gross ton cruise vessels will be built at MV Werften Stralsund, with production starting late 2017 and deliveries from spring 2019,” the german shipbuilder said in a statement.
“We are excited to build a series of the world's first purpose-built expedition yachts, with PC6 polar-class designation,” stated Jarmo Laakso, Managing Director of MV Werften. “Our own staff at all sites and other subcontractors have already been fully involved in this project. Foreship has proven to be a strong and reliable cooperation partner in numerous similar large-scale projects and will be a valued support in addition to our own workforce.”
Foreship is one of the leading cruise ship design and engineering companies worldwide, having been involved in projects such as Quantum of the Seas for Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Breakaway for Norwegian Cruise Line as well as Mein Schiff 3 and Mein Schiff 4 for TUI Cruises.
Being about 160 metres long and 23 metres wide, the Endeavor class vessels for luxury cruise line Crystal Cruises, also part of the Genting Hong Kong group, will be the world’s largest and most spacious expedition yachts. They are designed to operate mainly in Arctic and Antarctic regions and cruise in the tropical regions when travelling between the poles. They can accommodate up to 200 passengers in 100 suites and the same amount of crew.
Additionally on 18 August, the owner’s architect agreements for the Endeavor project were signed in Wismar by Crystal Cruises with design companies Tillberg Design, AD Associates and Kudos Dsign, as well as with Tillberg Design, SMC and Kudos Dsign on the Global class cruise ships for Star Cruises.
The 201,000 GT Global Class vessels will be over 340 metres long and 45 metres wide. Steel cutting for the first vessel is expected to begin in late 2017 and delivery is scheduled for 2020.
The order book of MV Werften includes a total of ten vessels in the next five years. Therefore the shipyard group is currently increasing its in-house capacity and competence at all three locations in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the fields of project management, design, planning, purchasing and production, the shipbuilder said.
