World’s largest and most expensive passenger vessel to be built in Turku

Cruise ship ordered by Royal Caribbean to cost EUR 900 million

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The Turku Shipyard of Aker Finnyards is to build a massive luxury cruise vessel for Royal Caribbean International. At a press conference on Monday announcing the project, Aker Yards President Yrjö Julin was at a loss for superlatives when he described the vessel’s dimensions.
      With a price tag of EUR 900 million, it is, in Julin’s words, the "most expensive ship ordered in the history of shipbuilding". Aker Finnyards is part of the Norwegian Aker shipbuilding concern, and Julin is the head of the group’s Cruise and Ferries Business Area.
      "This is apparently also the largest Finnish export deal ever", Julin continued. The ship, of the new Genesis class, will be the biggest passenger vessel in the world. With its 220,000 gross register tonnes, it is 43 percent bigger than Freedom of the Seas, which is scheduled for delivery to the same shipping company in April.
      Currently the largest passenger vessel sailing is the Queen Mary II, which will soon be overtaken by Freedom of the Seas. The new ship will beat them all when it is completed in the autumn of 2009.
     
The new cruise liner will be 360 metres long - more than 20 metres longer than the ships of the Freedom series. In relative terms, the width will grow much more - to 47 metres. The greater width makes it possible to add to the hight of the vessel.
      Juha Heikinheimo, head of sales at Aker, says that the dimensions of the harbour basin in Miami, Florida, which is the world’s busiest cruise harbour, puts certain limits on the length of new ships. Harbour facilities in ports of call also have to be considered.
      The ships of the Genesis class will stand 65 metres above the water line, and under the surface, the draft will be more than nine metres. The sea bed near the Turku shipyard will have to be dredged somewhat to accommodate the ship, but Heikinheimo says that the Turku shipyard itself is "optimal" for the construction.
     
Richard D. Fain, CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises, said in a written statement, that the order was a "giant step into the future".
      Julin said that the ship would contain a number of new features, adding that promoting them was up to the shipping line itself. Previous Royal Caribbean ships have included shopping areas, and exotic sport facilities from ice rinks to climbing walls.
      The ship will have space for at least 5,400 passengers, and even more if bunk beds are taken into use.
      The order still requires the participation of the Finnish state - mainly the export promotion agency Finnvera - in the guaranteeing of financing. Julin says that he is confident that the guarantees will materialise
     
In addition to the order, the two companies agreed on an option for a sister vessel, which would be ready for delivery in 2010.
      Sales manager Heikinheimo says that he is certain that the ship will be built in Turku, although Aker recently acquired another shipyard suited for the construction of big vessels in Nantes, France.
     
The construction will involve a network of about 600 subcontractors. The project will provide 5,800 man-work years of labour.
      Yrjö Julin characterised the overall situation for the Finnish shipbuilding industry as "very good". In Turku, there are enough orders to keep the shipyard busy until late 2009, and the shipyards in Helsinki and Rauma have orders until 2008.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Aker to buy French shipyard; plans to develop Finnish yard shelved (5.1.2005)
  Aker Yards gets ship order from Viking Line (22.11.2005)
  Helsinki shipyard to focus on assembling car ferries (31.8.2005)

Links:
  Aker Finnyards press release: Royal Caribbean orders a giant cruise vessel from Aker Yards 06-February-06

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