Page 86: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2019)

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VESSELS

Vard Delivers Ponant Cruise Vessel

Vard delivered Le Bougainville, its third expedition cruise vessel for Ponant. The 131m long, 184-passenger vessel, is the third in the series designed and built by VARD, following on from the delivery of Le Lap- erouse in June 2018 and Le Champlain in

October. Vard Søviknes is now working on a fourth sister ship, Le Dumont-d’Urville, scheduled for delivery to French-owned

PONANT in June this year.

Created to be intimate in nature, with just 92 state rooms and suites, all of which boast balconies or private terraces, the ships bal- ance environmental care with cutting edge design and passenger-centric innovation.

Le Bougainville, as with all the vessels from this series, is ? tted with the Blue Eye, a multi-sensorial underwater salon will allow guests to discover and experience the under- water world via two portholes in the form of a cetaceous eye looking out on to the sea bed, non-intrusive underwater lighting, and hydrophones integrated into the keel retrans- mitting the natural symphony of the deep water, as well as

Le Bougainville has started its ? rst sailing from Malaga, Spain, from where she com- menced her maiden voyage.

The vessel build project was de? ned by close cooperation throughout the Vard and

Fincantieri network and with Ponant itself.

Le Bougainville’s hull was built at Vard Tul- cea in Romania, before being towed to Vard

Søviknes in Norway for equipping and ? nal out? tting. Vard Electro conducted equip- ment and electrical system installation work, while Vard Design in cooperation with Ster- ling Design have developed and designed the vessel. The vessel was delivered from

Vard Søviknes on 5th April 2019.

Vard became part of Fincantieri in 2013, and is headquartered in Norway, with 9,000 employees spread across nine strategically located shipbuilding facilities and several specialized subsidiaries.

© PONANT Philip Plisso 86 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • MAY 2019

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