Swan Hellenic's SH Diana Floated Out at Helsinki Shipyard

Swan Hellenic announced that SH Diana, the newest and largest ship in its fleet, was floated out of dry dock this week at Helsinki Shipyard.

SH Diana’s fitting out is now already under way, leaving the luxury expedition cruise ship on schedule for her maiden cruise leaving Palermo, Italy for Lisbon, Portugal on April 15. The 125-meter-long, 12,100 GRT vessel will then make its way up the West Atlantic seaboard of Europe for explorations of the Arctic.

Andrea Zito, CEO of Swan Hellenic Limited, said, “We are delighted with the construction progress and quality of SH Diana, a Polar Class PC6 vessel with state-of-the-art ship technology and sustainability that will enter service as planned in April. We look forward to welcoming our guests aboard her to experience our cultural expedition cruises with the first-time option of choosing between shore exploration by tender boat as well as expedition zodiac.”

Kim Salmi, CEO of Helsinki Shipyard, said, “With exemplary cooperation between our personnel, owner’s representatives and our multiple contractors and suppliers, SH Diana has reached maturity for this milestone and was floated out. Works will now continue with intense commissioning phase, preparing her for passengers in April.”

The Finnish shipbuilder in December sold the ship to Swan Hellenic at auction after the original buyer, Russian-owned GTLK Europe, failed to take delivery.

Accommodating 192 passengers, SH Diana is slightly larger than 152-passenger SH Minerva and SH Vega launched from Helsink Shipyard in in December 2021 and July 2022 respectively.