Deliveries include two US cruise ships for separate operators an LNG-fuelled ferry for a Spanish shipping line, and a fast hydrofoil vessel to serve Russian commuter routes. Orders have been placed for new ferries to be built in China while construction on two vessels for the UK's Isles of Scilly begins at a Vietnamese yard. Finally, a UK partnership will work towards the introduction of fast ferries fitted with electric foiling technology.
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri recently launched a new cruise ship ordered by Miami-based Oceania Cruises. Allura is scheduled to enter service in July 2025, after which it will sail on itineraries in the Mediterranean, North America, and the Caribbean.
Allura is the eighth vessel for Oceania Cruises and the line’s second 1,200-guest Allura-class ship. Onboard facilities will include a library, five specialty restaurants, and guest staterooms each with an area of at least 291 square feet (27 square metres).
Spanish ferry company Balearia has taken delivery of a new catamaran Ro-Pax ferry built by Armon Shipyard. Named after famed Spanish biochemist, Margarita Salas is a sister vessel of the earlier Eleanor Roosevelt, which Armon handed over in 2021.
A new hydrofoil ferry built by Russia's Vympel Shipyard has been named after a late former cosmonaut who was also among the first ten people into space. Kosmonaut Pavel Popovich honours the late Pavel Romanovich Popovich, a Ukrainian-born former fighter pilot and Soviet Air Force major general who died in 2009.
UK transport company Red Funnel has entered into a partnership with Belfast-based maritime technology company Artemis Technologies with the aim of developing a new electric passenger ferry. The vessel will be fitted with Artemis Technologies' proprietary foiling system, making it the first passenger vessel to be equipped with such a system for operation between the South Coast of England and the Isle of Wight.
French shipbuilder Chantiers de l'Atlantique has handed over the sixth vessel in a series of cruise ships ordered by Miami-based Royal Caribbean International. Named Utopia of the Seas, the ship is also the only one in the Oasis-class to be powered by LNG.
Fincantieri and Crystal Cruises recently entered into a memorandum of agreement for the construction of two high-end cruise ships plus an option for a third vessel. The new ships will each boast a gross tonnage of 61,800 and accommodations for approximately 690 passengers.
The vessels will feature all-suite accommodations, with private verandas including a popular single occupancy category designed for single travellers. Fincantieri said the delivery of the first vessel is scheduled for the spring of 2028, while additional details regarding the second ship will be disclosed in due course.
US expedition cruise company Seabourn Cruise Line formally named its newest ship in a ceremony on Ngula Jar Island in Australia on Saturday, June 29. The Bahamas-flagged Seabourn Pursuit belongs to the same series as Seabourn Venture, which was delivered in 2022.
Stena RoRo has awarded China Merchants Jinling Shipyard Weihai a contract for the construction of two new E-Flexer-class Ro-Pax ferries fitted with multi-fuel engines. The two vessels will be on long-term charter agreements to the Attica Group with an option to purchase and a potential option for two more vessels.
Piriou Vietnam has cut the first steel to be used in the construction of two new vessels ordered by the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group (ISSG). The vessels, one to be used for freight-only sailings and the other with space for 600 passengers plus cargo, will be built simultaneously.