Vard to Build Four Expedition Cruise Ships

Vard Holdings Limited announced that it has secured contracts to build four luxury expedition cruise vessels with French cruise company PONANT.

The contracts follow on a Letter of Intent (LoI) reached in March 2016, which set out several conditions to be met including satisfactory financing. All conditions have now been fulfilled and the contracts have become effective.

The ice-class expedition cruise vessels will be approximately 10,000 gross tons, about 131 meters long, 18 meters wide and will have a cruise speed of 15 knots. Each vessel can accommodate 180 passengers (92 cabins) and a crew of 110. The vessels will be arranged with high class of luxury facilities on board, fulfilling the highest demands for environmentally friendly and safe operations.

The hulls will be built at Vard Tulcea in Romania. Delivery is scheduled from Vard Søviknes in Norway in the period summer 2018 to summer 2019.

PONANT, a subsidiary of ARTEMIS Group and headquartered in Marseille, France, was founded in 1988 by Jean-Emmanuel Sauvée and a dozen Merchant Navy officers. Today the company is a reference for a new style of high-end cruises, a unique concept for sea travel that combines exceptional itineraries with five-star amenities on small capacity luxury ships. Currently they operate a fleet of five vessels. PONANT is the only French-flag cruise line, and world number one for polar cruises.