Fincantieri Lays Keel for Sixth Viking Ship

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has held a keel laying ceremony today in Ancona for the sixth of eight ocean cruise ships Viking Ocean Cruises has ordered from the yard.

The first building block of the ship is about 11 meters long, 28.8 wide and weighing about 380 tons.

The unit, to be delivered in 2019, will be placed in the small cruise ship segment. As its sister ships, it will have a gross tonnage of about 47,800 tons, 473 cabins with accommodation for 946 passengers, and a total capacity of over 1,400 people, including the crew.

Image Courtesy: Fincantieri

According to Fincantieri, the Viking units are all built according to the latest navigation regulations and equipped with modern safety systems, including the “Safe return to port“, along with advanced technologies for energy saving that meet the strictest environmental regulations.

The first of the series, Viking Star, was built at the shipyard in Marghera and delivered in March 2015. The second, the third and the fourth, Viking Sea, Viking Sky and Viking Sun took to the sea from the shipyard in Ancona in 2016 and in 2017.

A few weeks ago Viking Orion, the fifth unit, was launched with delivery scheduled in 2018.

The last three units from the batch will be completed in 2019, 2021 and 2022 respectively, the shipbuilder said.