Finnish ship designer Deltamarin has signed a contract with China Merchants Jinling shipyard (Weihai), previously known as AVIC Weihai, for the approval and detail design of Finnlines’ Superstar roll-on/roll-off passenger (RoPax) hybrid vessel project.
Deltamarin has earlier provided the shipyard with consultancy and contract design services on the project.
As explained, the new contract is significant for Deltamarin as it further strengthens the company’s workload for the coming eighteen months, especially in the exceptional circumstances related to COVID-19.
“We at Deltamarin are extremely happy and thankful to get this contract during this very abnormal global business environment caused by COVID-19…These new RoPax vessels will be among the most environmentally friendly vessels of their type,” Janne Uotila , Managing Director of Deltamarin, said.
The work will mainly be carried out at Deltamarin’s offices in Finland.
“This contract with Deltamarin further deepens the collaboration between our two companies…We look forward to providing Finnlines with these eco-friendly Superstar RoPax vessels,” Justin Liu, Deputy General Manager of CMJL shipyard, commented.
Deltamarin and CMJL shipyard have worked together on a number of projects. The latest projects are the E-Flexer RoPax vessels for Swedish Stena Line and the Rosa dei Venti RoRo vessel for Italian Giovanni Visentini Trasporti Fluviomarittimi.
Superstar RoPax ships
Earlier this year, Finnlines, part of the Italian Grimaldi Group, ordered two RoPax units from the abovementioned Weihai shipyard.
They Superstar hybrid newbuilds are expected to be delivered by 2023 and will be Finnlines’ flagships both in terms of size and technology, meeting the highest technical and environmental standards.
The units are intended for operation on the Naantali – Långnäs – Kapellskär route between Finland and Sweden.
With a length of about 235 metres, they will be larger than the existing Star-class vessels, and their loading capacity will be for 5,100 lane metres for rolling freight and around 1,200 passengers.
The new energy-efficient ships will have the highest Finnish/Swedish ice class.