Sunstone Ships Announced Steel Cutting Ceremony On The Fourth Infinity-class Vessel
SunStone Ships, the largest tonnage provider in the expedition market, announced the successful Steel Cutting Ceremony of their fourth next-generation, INFINITY-class vessel (CMHI 196-4).
With a goal of marrying European design and quality with Chinese ship-building efficiency, the INFINITY-class delivers cutting-edge design, innovations like X-bow technology, and significant operating efficiencies.
SunStone President and CEO, Niels-Erik Lund, commented, “We are very pleased with the quality and high building standards of China Merchants Heavy Industry, which are fully at the level of European Shipyards. We are looking forward to continuing our relationships with all our partners in the Infinity-class project and we are moving fast forward as planned at very satisfactory speed, safety and quality level”.
The Steel Cutting Ceremony of the OCEAN EXPLORER (CMHI 196-4) took place at China Merchant Heavy Industries in Haimen, China. The event included several hundred invited guests. The Keel Laying is scheduled for April 2020. This vessel will be delivered in January 2021 and will begin Cruises in March 2021. The vessel is chartered to Vantage Travel on a year-round long-term charter.
INFINITY Class Vessels are 104 meters long, and 18 meters wide, having a draft of 5.1 meters. They feature a passenger capacity between 130-200 and a crew capacity between 85 and 115. The Vessels are Ice Class 1A, Polar Code 6 and are being built with Safe Return to Port, Dynamic Positioning and Zero Speed Stabilizers. The Vessels are featuring the X-Bow® by Ulstein Design & Solutions. They are small enough to give an exclusive atmosphere and yet large enough to yield all expected services and facilities such as a swimming pool, bar and restaurants, lounges, boutique, gym and spa.
Current INFINITY Class new-builds under way after the delivery of GREG MORTIMER are; the OCEAN VICTORY with delivery October 2020, the OCEAN EXPLORER with delivery January 2021, the Infinity-class vessel no. 7 (TBN) with delivery September 2021, the OCEAN ODYSSEY with delivery March 2022, the OCEAN DISCOVERER with delivery September 2022 and the OCEAN ALBATROS with delivery October 2022. All vessels ordered have long-term charter agreements in place.
In addition to the seven vessels already ordered, SunStone has options to build another three Infinity-class vessels.
(Sunstone Ships, Vantage Travel)
