…As BOA Management Transports Norway’s Sunken Frigate to Main Navy Base***
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and US-based cruise company Viking Cruises have signed contracts for the first two of six ocean ships ordered in March 2018.
The two newbuilds will be delivered to its owner in 2024 and 2025, according to Fincantieri.
In partnership with the shipowner, the shipbuilder plans to develop a project based on the characteristics of the previous ships, upgraded and revisited in line with the latest available technologies.
Viking’s current ocean fleet includes ships having exclusively all-veranda staterooms, a gross tonnage of about 47,800 tons with accommodation for 930 passengers in 465 cabins.
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 special cruise ships and the options.
As explained by Fincantieri, this is an all-time record, the largest number of units built by a shipbuilder for one sole shipowner.
The first in the series, Viking Star, was built at the shipyard in Marghera and delivered in 2015. The other units, Viking Sea, Viking Sky, Viking Sun, and Viking Orion, handed over in 2016, 2017 and 2018, were all built at the Ancona yard, as well as Viking Jupiter, which joined the shipowner’s fleet in February 2019.
Other ten units — options included — for Viking Cruises will take to the sea from the group’s Italian yards between 2021 and 2027.
In the meantime, Norwegian frigate HNoMS Helge Ingstad was successfully transported to the country’s main navy base after spending over four months almost completely submerged following the collision with tanker Sola TS in November 2018.
The frigate arrived at the Haakonsvern navy base on the BOA Management-operated semisubmersible barge “Boa barge 33” on Sunday, March 3.
The lifting operation itself started on February 26 and saw heavy-lift vessels Scaldis and Rambiz lift the frigate off the sea floor and transport it 15 nautical miles from the Hjeltefjorden fjord to Hanøytangen where the ship was loaded onto the barge for the final stage of her transport.
To remind, HNoMS Helge Ingstad and Maltese-flagged tanker Sola TS collided on November 8, outside of the Sture terminal in Øygarden Municipality in Hordaland County, Norway. The frigate was heavily damaged in the collision and was driven onto the rocks in attempt to prevent her from sinking completely. Several days later, however, the frigate slipped from the rocks into deeper waters and spent over four months almost completely submerged.
The Aframax oil tanker did not sustain damages below the waterline in the collision and only minor fuel spill had been detected around the vessel.
Norway’s defense ministry said the next steps in the process will be to save as much equipment from the frigate as possible. Once this is completed, the navy will be able to better assess the ship’s condition and make a definite decision on its future.
World Maritime News
