Fincantieri strikes contract for fourth Virgin Voyages cruise ship

Fincantieri has signed a contract valued at approximately €700M (US$795M) to construct a fourth cruise ship for Virgin Voyages, which will be delivered at the end of 2023.

The new vessel will be a sister ship of the three ships curently on order with Fincantieri. Construction is underway at the Sestri Ponente shipyard (Genoa) and the first three ships will enter Virgin Voyage’s fleet in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The fourth vessel will be approximately 110,000 gt, 278 m long and 38 m wide. The ship will feature over 1,400 guest cabins designed to host more than 2,770 passengers, accompanied by 1,100 crew members on board.

A statement said highlights of the Virgin Voyages fleet include design solutions specifically to address energy recovery and to reduce environmental impact, with the ships equipped with an energy production system of approximately 1 MW, which uses the diesel engine’s waste heat.

Virgin Voyages' newbuildings will be equipped with Wärtsilä 46F engines, Wärtsilä’s hybrid scrubber system and selective catalytic reduction systems for exhaust gas cleaning. They will also be outfitted with Wärtsilä’s Nacos Platinum integrated bridge systems.

Virgin Voyages is a joint venture between Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Bain Capital.