Page 42: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2018)

PONANT to the North Pole:

World First Ice-Breaking Hybrid Cruise Vessel

The quest to deliver a world-? rst is al- most luxurious accommodations. People experience as an icebreaker designer in ready on order, are an obvious source of ways a challenge, particularly when the who can afford that sort of wanderlust developing this world’s ? rst luxury ice- investment for PONANT. But Rodriguez ‘? rst’ entails taking well-heeled clien- want to do it in style.” breaker cruise vessel with Polar Class 2 contends that the investment does not tele deep within one of the most hostile As expected on a project of this magni- (PC 2) ice class, as the Ponant Icebreaker stop there. and unforgiving climates on the planet. tude, PONANT has sought counsel and intends to take passengers to never ex- “We invest in our future everyday to

That alone makes Ponant’s quest to de- partnership with some of the foremost plored polar destinations, such as true better ourselves, whether that is an in- liver the world’s ? rst LNG/dual-fuelled authorities on the subject, developing geographic North Pole, the Weddell Sea, vestment in infrastructure for the corpo- icebreaking cruise vessel interesting, a the luxury cruise vessel in close coop- the Ross Sea and Peter I Island. ration, in new software and management vessel that will be the ? rst of its kind to eration with Aker Arctic and Stirling De- The 150 x 28m vessel will be approxi- systems; we invest in our people with make the trek to the North Pole. sign International, a project to be built mately 30,000 gross tons and will have a training. “I see this as important project for by Fincantieri subsidiary Vard Holdings cruise speed of 15 knots in open water. Beyond the ? ve that we have an- many reasons,” said Edie Rodriguez, the Limited, who secured the approximately The vessel can accommodate 270 pas- nounced so far … suf? ce it to say that

Americas Brand Chairman for PONANT $320m shipbuilding contract. sengers in 135 staterooms, in addition to I’m a betting woman and I’m going to

Yacht Cruises and Expeditions. The hull will be built at Vard Tulcea a crew of 180. bet that we are going to have some even “First and foremost, it’s new and dif- in Romania, with delivery from Vard It will also be equipped with two heli- more exciting announcements coming ferent. Right now the only way to get Søviknes in Norway scheduled for the copters in in-house hangars. in 2018 and beyond for the continued to the North Pole is on a helicopter or second quarter of 2021. This newbuilding, in addition to the growth of Ponant, the world’s most luxu- a working Russian icebreaker – not the Aker Arctic has used its long-term four identical Explorer class vessels al- rious yacht expedition company.” 42 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • FEBRUARY 2018

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