The keel laying ceremony of the new unit for Princess Cruises has been held at Fincantieri Monfalcone Shipyard in mid[ds_preview]-July. The new vessel, which has been ordered by the Carnival Group for the shipowner Princess Cruises, will go to sea in 2017 and it will be the first one to be designed and built specifically for the Chinese market. With its 145,000 gt, the ship will host 3,560 passengers and will be built on the basis of the successful project of the twin vessels »Royal Princess« and »Regal Princess«. delivered in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Meanwhile Fincantieri Marine Group, the U.S. subsidiary of Italy’s shipbuilding company Fincantieri, and Gibbs & Cox, independent naval engineering and design firm in North America, have announced a joint strategic research and development initiative in ship and vessel design. The initiative will focus on future ship and vessels concepts with applications within the United States as well as the international market. It will investigate means of developing innovative ship concepts with improved affordability and production efficiency features.
