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Representing approximately 2600 man-years employment, the currently signed preliminary agreement is highly important both to the Turku shipyard of STX Finland and to the entire Finnish shipbuilding cluster, as we sail away from the lull caused by the global financial crisis. "Actively operating shipyard is also much more competitive partner than an empty one when we are competing on new cruise ship projects", Heikinheimo says. The design of the new ship will start immediately at Turku shipyard, and the actual building of the ship starts during fall 2011. Throughout the design and building of this cruise ferry the shipyard will continue to improve efficiency in production in order to increase productivity by industrializing operations even further. Premium passenger experiences for 2800 passengers The cruise ferry is about 210 metres in length with a gross tonnage of 57 000. The ship, which has a top speed of close to 23 knots, is planned to hold 2800 passengers and will be operated by a 200-member crew. The vessel, which is full of innovative and new solutions, has 870 passenger cabins. It has almost 1300 lane-metres for trucks and a separate car deck with approximately 500 lane-metres for passenger cars. Additional room for passenger cars can be found on the hoistable car decks. The cruise ferry will operate on a route between Turku and Stockholm. STX Finland Oy has three shipyards in Finland, located in Turku, Rauma and Helsinki. The company belongs to the international STX Europe Group, with a product range including passenger ships as well as merchant and offshore vessels. The Group has 15 shipyards in Brazil, Norway, France, Romania, Finland and Vietnam. In all, STX Europe has approximately 16,000 employees. www.stxeurope.com STX Europe's principal shareholder, the international conglomerate STX Business Group, has production plants representing various industries all over the world and a total of approximately 54,000 employees. STX Europe ASA |
STX Finland and Viking Line sign agreement for cruise ferry
The new cruise ferry will be the most environmentally friendly big passenger vessel to date. Even though it has not yet been decided the goal is to use LNG as the fuel. The ship has no marine emissions and its aerial emissions are extremely low. The ship has been specially designed to operate in the delicate and shallow-water archipelago environment. The wave forming and noise generation have been minimised.