Around a week ago, there was some talk that the deal was off and Viking was trying to get out of the contract.

It appears the talk finally came to fruition as the deal with STX appears to have fallen through. Italy’s Fincanteri has stepped in with a slightly larger design. Coming in at 45,000grt, she will host 998pax. Like the STX France deal, this MOU is still pending financing. When approved, the vessels would be completed in Fall 2014 &15.

Buzz on the floor today is after leaders from major European shipyards heavily criticized the Mitsubishi deal with AIDA. They claimed that that the pricing model of the AIDA ship is “unstable”.

Corrado Antonini, Fincantieri chairman

Mitsubishi has come up with a price per lower berth that no other builder could match. [Mitsubishi is]10 years out of the market. How could they come up with that price? Costs in Japan are not that much less than in Europe, and a lot of their components are being sourced in Europe.

Eero Makinen, svp marketing at STX Finland

If the series goes to five ships they will be facing a total loss of up to €500m. It is an unbelievable figure and it can’t really be understood even as an entry fee for this sector.

 

Sounds to me like they’re scared of Asia. Shipyards world wide are struggling to fill order books right now. The offshore industry is helping to fill some of Asia’s yards but not all. With the unstable EU, now is the perfect time for Asia to make a big play in the cruise industry. 

Back in December I reported that the Libyan Government ordered the 139,000grt ship, m/v Phoenicia. It was shocking at the time but given how much $$$$ the Libyan government had from its oil exports {the state run shipping line sails only tankers}, the venture into passenger ships didn’t seem that far stretched. Hapag-Lloyd and MSC did it successfully. Shortly after the steel was cut, the Libyan conflict broke out. The instability of the government put the contact in jeopardy. It has not been reported that STX officially voided the contract. The company, run by Muammar Gaddafi’s son, missed their last payment on May 15th.

STX will now be looking for a new customer to deliver the ship to.

via: CIN

Germany was where RCI had the 4 Radiance’s built and all their 5 Solstice’s.

There is no word on the size, but my guess would be absolutely smaller than Oasis. Physically, if said rumor is to be believed, Meyer Werft in Germany is limited by size restrictions. Due to the Ems River the ship has to transit. A good guess as to the sizes can be seen in Germany’s recent work: the 128,000grt Disney Dream, and the Solstice Class of 122,000- 126,000 grt.

The General National Maritime Transport Company (Libya) and STX France celebrated the steel cutting ceremony for the state-run comapny’s first cruise ship. The ship ordered back in June has celebrated the first milestone of construction: The steel cutting. On hand from GNMTC were Captain Ali M. Belhag, Chairman and Captain Abdulhakim M. Algheziwy, Marine Operation Manager. Code named X32, she is rumored to be a modified fantasia class of MSC Cruises.

STX France cut into the first piece of steel for the 139,000grt ship. If all goes to plan, she will be delivered in exactly 2 years on December 2012.

There are currently no details on interiors or even renders of her yet. Stay tuned though as I am eagerly awaiting info on both.

The Scandinavian ferry company, Viking Lines reached a preliminary agreement for construction of one “new generation, environmentally friendly” cruise ferry. Also in the agreement is a deal for a sister. The deal for just the one ship comes out to 240 million euros. Construction will start in fall of 2011 and she will be delivered in Q1 of 2013.

Even more interesting is the prospect that the ship will use LNG instead of heavy bunker fuel!

The Allure of the Seas was delivered from STX Finland yards. The only ship with a Starbucks at sea and an GUESS store at sea sailed from the cold Finnish city of Turku. Just like her sister Oasis last year, Royal Caribbean execs. were on hand to sign the contracts to take delivery of the ship in exchange for over $1 Billion USD. The scene is eerily familiar from last October 30th:

Last October with Oasis	This October for Allure

Oh I noticed the plants changed, and they’re wearing different ties.

Anyways, just like her older sister, she had to sail under the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark. A bridge with 65m clearance and a ship with also 65m air draft just met and passed each other without a hitch. This webcam cap shows Allure in the bottom right:

She is expected to arrive on Port Everglades Nov 11th and sail on her maiden voyage Dec 1st.

From Flickr

Allure of the Seas Shipyard Report #1

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Currently, the Epic is in the English Channel between Southampton, England and Cherbourg, France. Make sure you are tracking her live here. Having been officially handed over from STX France yards to NCL yesterday, she is sailing full speed to Rotterdam to begin her promo tour before heading state side.

Will post pictures as soon as I get them.