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Rolls-Royce has signed a deal with WestSea Shipyard, part of Martifer Group, to equip a cruise ship newbuilding for[ds_preview] Portugal-based cruise company Mystic Cruises. The vessel, to be called »World Explorer«, will be the company’s first expeditionary oceanic cruise ship. The »World Explorer« will offer cruise itineraries in Antarctica from November to March and this new vessel’s inaugural Antarctic season is already fully chartered to, and being distributed globally by, Polar Cruise Company Quark Expeditions. For the rest of the season it will visit small and distinct ports around the world normally not accessible to larger cruise ships and will be distributed worldwide by Nicko Cruises.

Equipped with environmentally sustainable technology developed by Rolls- Royce, the »World Explorer« is the first of several ships to be built by the Portuguese company for its expeditionary cruise line. Rolls-Royce has supplied two Bergen, C25:33L8P main engines and a Bergen C25:33L6P auxiliary dual generator. These connect to a Low Voltage AFE SAVeCUBE Power Electric System which allows the engines to operate at variable speeds maximising their efficiency for the required power. Rolls-Royce is also providing the automation and control system, and the complete Promas propulsion system with two CPP propellers integrated with two flap rudders, also steering gears and tunnel thrusters.

The »World Explorer« will accommodate 200 guests and 111 crew members. The ship will have an operating cruise speed of 16kn with a strengthened hull and propellers for traversing ice. It will be 126m in length with a width of 19m, a draft of 4.8m and a tonnage of 9,300 gt.

Construction of the vessel, designed by Giuseppe Tringali, is already underway at the WestSea Shipyard in Portugal Completion expected in October 2018. The tank testing phase began in August at MARIN in the Netherlands.