Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has laid the keel for Viking Mars, the eighth ocean cruise ship being built for the shipowner Viking, at its shipyard in Ancona.
The unit will be placed in the small cruise ship segment. As its sister ships, she will have a gross tonnage of about 47,800 tons, 465 cabins with accommodation for 930 passengers.
The vessel is scheduled for delivery in 2022.
The Viking units feature energy-efficient engines, optimized hydrodynamics and hull thereby reducing consumption, as well as systems which minimize pollution produced by exhaust gases, meeting the strictest environmental regulations.
Fincantieri started its partnership with Viking in 2012. Today, the cooperation which first began with an order for two ships, has reached a total of 20 units, including the order awarded to Vard for two expedition cruise ships and the options.
Fincantieri said that this was an all-time record, the largest number of units built by a shipbuilder for one sole shipowner.
The first of the series, Viking Star, has been built at the shipyard in Marghera and delivered in 2015. The other units, Viking Sea, Viking Sky, Viking Sun, Viking Orion, and Viking Jupiter, handed over between 2016 and 2019, were all built at the Ancona yard, as well as Viking Venus, which will join the shipowner’s fleet this year.
Other 9 units, options included, will take to the sea from the group’s Italian yards between 2022 and 2027.