Fincantieri and Generative Bionics Partner on Humanoid Welding Robot

Fincantieri and Generative Bionics Partner on Humanoid Welding Robot

Fincantieri and Generative Bionics, an Italian company focused on autonomous humanoid robots, announced an industrial partnership to develop a humanoid welding robot designed to operate alongside humans in the shipbuilder’s shipyards.

The collaboration integrates Fincantieri’s industrial expertise with the robotic platform developed by Generative Bionics, with the goal of increasing safety and operational efficiency, improving production quality and enhancing sustainability, according to the companies.

“Advanced robotics and artificial intelligence applied to industrial processes represent a strategic lever for the evolution of shipbuilding and for the competitiveness of the European industrial system,” said Pierroberto Folgiero, chief executive officer and general manager of Fincantieri.

“The collaboration with Generative Bionics is part of the transformation journey we are undertaking to strengthen our operational excellence, enhance the work of our people and address in a structured way the challenges related to growing production complexity and the availability of specialized skills.”

The humanoid robot will support specific welding activities in naval manufacturing.

The robot will be equipped with artificial intelligence, advanced manipulation, perception and vision capabilities for monitoring the welding seam, and optimized locomotion to operate in complex environments.

The collaboration program is expected to span four years.

Initial on-site tests are scheduled by the end of 2026, with operational functionalities available within the first two years.

Development and testing will take place at Fincantieri’s Sestri Ponente shipyard.

The collaboration is part of Fincantieri’s strategy in advanced robotics and innovation.

The adoption of Physical AI systems supports production continuity and assists workers in repetitive, physically demanding or ergonomically challenging tasks.

 

Oceanwide Expeditions Completes Upgrades on Ortelius

Oceanwide Expeditions Completes Upgrades on Ortelius

Oceanwide Expeditions has completed two maintenance and upgrade projects on the Ortelius, improving the vessel’s operational speed and increasing fuel efficiency, the company said in a press release.

The fitting of new propeller blades and hull blasting forms part of an ongoing investment into the expedition fleet as part of a broader expedition fleet and sustainability strategy.

The company stated that during a dry dock in September, four new bronze propeller blades were built and fitted by Dutch Propeller Repairs BV (DPR), replacing the existing stainless steel propeller blades that had been in place for several decades.

Previously, during a May dry dock, hull blasting was performed on the Ortelius’s hull, removing accumulated paint layers and reestablishing a smoother, more consistent hull surface.

Piet Vink, chief vessel officer at Oceanwide Expeditions, said: “With the completion of both projects, the Ortelius is now more ready than ever to take guests into some of our planet’s most extreme environments.”

“Both upgrades directly improve fuel efficiency and operational consistency, which, in turn, helps us further reduce operational emissions. We are delighted with the professionalism and high standards of our partners, including DPR and Shipyard Reimerswaal, in completing both projects during busy docking periods,” added Vink.

According to the company, these upgrades enhance the polar capabilities of the Ortelius.

Both projects were completed at Shipyard Reimerswaal, a long-time partner of Oceanwide Expeditions, which facilitates drydocking, restocking and maintenance for the fleet on a biannual basis.

MSC Meraviglia to Sail from Southampton in 2027

MSC Meraviglia to Sail from Southampton in 2027

The MSC Meraviglia will sail from Southampton for the 2027 season, MSC Cruises announced in a press release.

According to the company, the 2017-built ship will arrive at the British port on May 18, 2027, kicking off a six-month deployment.

“We want to give our customers new experiences, so it’s wonderful that the MSC Meraviglia is sailing from the United Kingdom in Summer 2027,” said Antonio Paradiso, vice president of international sales at MSC Cruises.

Replacing the MSC Virtuosa, the Meraviglia will offer a series of six- to 14-night cruises to destinations in Northern Europe and the Norwegian Fjords.

The season also includes longer itineraries to the Mediterranean, which will feature visits to additional destinations, such as Ibiza in Spain, Tangier in Morocco and Gibraltar in the United Kingdom.

While the Meraviglia takes over the itineraries from Southampton, the MSC Virtuosa is set to operate a full season in the Western Mediterranean.

Paradiso said that the changes to the company’s deployment in the region follow guests’ feedback, noting that the two ships are part of the same class.

“We’re seeing strong demand from UK customers for Mediterranean cruises, so having the MSC Virtuosa there for Summer 2027 is a natural fit for us,” he added.

“We also offer great value Fly & Cruise prices with flights from many regional airports, so customers can relax knowing that flights, transfers and the cruise fare are all included in the price,” he continued.

Paradiso also highlighted the 2026-27 winter season in the United Kingdom, which will see the MSC Preziosa replacing the MSC Poesia.

“I’m delighted to have the MSC Preziosa back in the UK doing the longest season ever from Southampton,” he said.

The 2013-built ship is set to offer a series of seven-night cruises to England, France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands between October 2026 and April 2027.

Bookings for the new 2027 itineraries onboard the MSC Meraviglia and the MSC Virtuosa are set to open on Oct. 14, 2025.

Viking Names Vesta in Croatia

Viking Names Vesta in Croatia

Viking named its newest ocean ship, the Viking Vesta, with a traditional ceremony in Split, Croatia, over the weekend. The vessel was recently delivered from Fincantieri to Viking.

Serving as ceremonial godmother of the Viking Vesta was the Norwegian journalist Lene Tangevald-Jensen, according to a press release.

The Viking Vesta will now continue her inaugural season sailing in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe.

“As we celebrate 10 years of ocean voyages in 2025, we are pleased to welcome the new Viking Vesta to our award-winning fleet of elegant sister ships,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman and CEO of Viking.

“We are also very grateful to Lene for serving as godmother. In addition to her personal and professional accomplishments, Lene embodies the values that are very important to me and to Viking—she is kind, honest, hardworking and, of course, curious. I am proud to count her as a friend and a valued member of the extended Viking family.”

In keeping with the naming tradition, during the ceremony, Lene used a Viking broad axe to cut a ribbon that allowed a bottle of Norwegian aquavit to break on the ship’s hull.

Guests also enjoyed performances by Sissel Kyrkjebø, one of the world’s leading crossover sopranos and godmother of the Viking Jupiter, and Norwegian violinist Tor Jaran Apold.

Fincantieri and Accenture Launch Fincantieri Ingenium

Fincantieri and Accenture Launch Fincantieri Ingenium

Fincantieri and Accenture have signed an agreement to establish Fincantieri Ingenium, a joint venture focused on accelerating digital transformation in the cruise, defense and port infrastructure sectors.

Fincantieri NexTech, a subsidiary of Fincantieri Group, will own 70 percent of the venture, with Accenture holding 30 percent.

This initiative follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed in July 2024 and combines Fincantieri’s expertise in the naval sector with Accenture’s advanced digital capabilities, including digital engineering and manufacturing.

Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO and general manager of Fincantieri, said: “With Fincantieri Ingenium, we strengthen our leadership position in technological innovation applied to shipbuilding and the naval engineering industry. This joint venture represents a strategic step forward in accelerating the digitalization of the sector, leveraging artificial intelligence and the most advanced technologies. Thanks to the synergy with Accenture, we will develop cutting-edge solutions that will make our ships and infrastructures increasingly connected, efficient and sustainable, consolidating Fincantieri’s role as a global leader in the sector.”

Fincantieri Ingenium’s first strategic initiative is the development of Navis Sapiens, a digital ecosystem for next-generation ships and fleet upgrades.

The project focuses on three key areas: a portfolio of application services to optimize ship and infrastructure management, a digital platform offering AI-driven functionalities with a strong emphasis on cybersecurity, and a marketplace for exchanging solutions to create new business models in the maritime ecosystem.

The first vessel fitted with Navis Sapiens is expected to launch by the end of 2025. The joint venture will also enhance real-time data exchange and connectivity between ships and onshore systems, including ports and shipyards, through a sea-to-shore interoperability solution.

Fincantieri Ingenium will focus on sustainability in all initiatives. The systems will be designed to reduce environmental impact by leveraging data-driven energy optimization, helping shipowners lower fuel consumption.

Teodoro Lio, MU lead for ICEG and CEO of Accenture Italy, said: “We are excited about this joint venture with Fincantieri, which marks a significant step forward in maritime innovation and is a tangible example of collaboration between two organizations committed to transforming the market and creating new value. With Fincantieri Ingenium, we combine our strengths to shape new operating models that will transform maritime operations through innovative technologies.”

Fincantieri: ‘Covering All Brands’ with Eye on Future Fuels

Fincantieri: ‘Covering All Brands’ with Eye on Future Fuels

Coming off a big newbuild order from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Daniele Fanara, director of new building and after-sales at Fincantieri, is positive about the future.

“We are serving all segments of the market, from small luxury vessels to mega-size vessels to upper premium,” said Fanara, speaking to Cruise Industry News. “This covers all the brands in the cruise industry.”

Fanara said Fincantieri was very proud to be working with a variety of operators and being able to serve each of them in a tailored customized way.

“We have cross-fertilization with our technology, including the capacity to design the vessel,” he added.

NCLH Order

The new Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings order for eight ships includes orders for all three company brands, with new classes of ships for each of them. Norwegian, Oceania and Regent will all get new bigger ships, with orders for the Norwegian brand stretching to 2036.

“We are proud of the trust that Norwegian gave us to develop such an important program,” said Fanara.

Looking at future technologies, Fanara said the ships were being developed.

“Our attention is focused on three main fuels,” he said. “One is LNG, one is methanol, and one is hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most innovative one. We are developing new ideas on how and when we can implement hydrogen onboard the vessels.”

New ships for Oceania and Regent are being developed to be methanol-ready.

“Today there is no real answer on the fuel of the future,” Fanara continued. “It’s a matter of availability. What’s important from our side is that we are always studying the latest technology available. We are also exploring CO2 capture technology.”

Fanara said among the alternative fuels, LNG was notable in the fact it was being used today.

“Ships are sailing on LNG. The other technology is in a different phase of development. We need to monitor them so we are ready to implement them if necessary,” he explained.

Questions are coming in from cruise lines on alternative fuel practicalities, Fanara said, but with the most questions on hydrogen.

“It is the most innovative, it is the most unknown.”

Industry

Fanara called the cruise industry resilient.

“Soon after Covid, the speed at which the industry recovered and came back to strong booking and revenue levels is incredible,” he said.

Fanara expects other orders to follow, citing market demand and the value gap between cruise- and land-based vacations.

Shipbuilding Costs

Costs are up to build ships.

“A greener vessel is for sure more expensive to build,” Fanara noted. “But is the value of this additional cost worth it for the industry?

“The owners can say the ships are more expensive. We had Covid, we had wars and the result of this has been inflation. If you mix inflation and the technology transition, the result is not less expensive ships.”

Fincantieri: Building the Future

Fincantieri: Building the Future

“We are redesigning the future of navigation on a strategic and technological level,” Luigi Matarazzo, general manager of the Merchants Ships Division at Fincantieri, told Cruise Industry News.

“The ships we are building will increasingly resemble large, hyper-connected, energy self-sufficient, lighter and greener, propelled floating cities, capable of recycling up to 90 per cent of the waste produced onboard.

“With the technologies already available today, we can thermally recover up to 20 per cent of the energy contained in the fuel,” he continued.

“And the efficiency measures recently introduced in non-propulsion systems onboard have led to further reductions. For example, a ship of about 130,000 tons is able to reduce its fuel consumption up to 1,200 tons per year, which corresponds to about 7 per cent of the ship’s annual fuel consumption.

“We have validated and applied a series of initiatives on the ships we are building. Examples of energy-saving solutions include fan coil installations in cabins and public areas, variable-speed electric motors, recalibration of fresh-water production systems, LED and other high-efficiency lighting and automatic lighting controls, and much more. Each of these solutions can reduce fuel consumption from 48 to 290 tons per year. This is the path we are on.”

Playing a fundamental role in the green transition will be hydrogen and hydrogen carriers, such as ammonia, liquid hydrogen carriers and synthetic hydrocarbons derived from hydrogen, according to Matarazzo. But this will require the creation of a supply chain based on renewable energy sources, which is able to meet the increased demand without negative side effects on global warming, he added.

“On the technological level, the main obstacles are generated by constraints in terms of space and weight. Fuel cells, batteries, fuel tanks, energy recovery and auxiliary systems have a significant impact on the onboard space and weight of a ship.

“However, I want to stress that the challenges do not lie solely with the cost-efficient application of new technologies. In fact, there are important non-technological barriers.

“In terms of resources, there is still no clear and well-defined scenario regarding the future availability of hydrogen and its derivatives, which will also certainly drive pricing (of fuels).

“Production capacity and a network of supply hubs will be key enabling factors to accelerate the decarbonization of the shipping sector.”

Since 2021, Fincantieri has been committed to implementing measures to improve its yards’ impact on the environment. The latest initiative is solar farms being built at five of the yards to generate more green electricity while also reducing the energy bill, said Matarazzo.  Installations will feature 22,000 solar panels covering an area of more than 50,000 square meters, able to produce about 10 MW.

Fincantieri is also part of a public-private partnership launched by the European Commission and the Waterborne Technology Platform to decarbonize waterborne transport, as well as several joint ventures with private companies and research organizations exploring new fuels.

Meanwhile, the next 18 months will be busy for Fincantieri.

“In Monfalcone, by the end of this year we will deliver the MSC Seascape, the second EVO class ship and the fourth vessel in MSC Cruises’ Seaside class, and then, in 2023, Explora I, the first of six luxury ships ordered by MSC’s Explora Journeys brand,” Matarazzo said.

“Also next year, Marghera will deliver the second ship in Norwegian Cruise Line’s Prima class, the Norwegian Viva, followed by Cunard Line’s Queen Anne. The Sestri yard will deliver the Vista, the first of two new-generation ships that will start the Allura class for Oceania Cruises; a fourth ship for Virgin Voyages; a ninth and tenth ship for Viking Cruises; and the newest ship for Regent Seven Seas Cruises.”

Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Fall 2022 

Cruise shipbuilding versus ship refurbishments

Cruise ship building versus ship refurbishments

Unlike the scheduled cruise ship refurbishments, major refits may include even a cruise ship lengthening, like in the case of Royal Caribbean ship Enchantment of the Seas lengthened in 2005 (see the photo below). The Enchantment ship lengthening cost ~ US$55 million, it was a process of cutting the ship in two and inserting a whole new 73 ft (22 m) 3,500 tons midsection, pre-built at the Aker Finnyards. The month-long dry-dock at the Keppel Verolme shipyards (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) resulted in adding 151 brand new cabins, a 50% bigger Pool Deck area, a new kids area, a teen center, several new bars and lounges, an expanded main dining room, a new specialty restaurant. This "refurbishment cost" record was recently beaten by the CCL line and the US$155 million Carnival Destiny refit 2013 producing a brand new ship named Carnival Sunshine!

The average cost of building a cruise ship is around US $450 for mid-sized vessels and up to $800 million for bigger cruise ships. These prices, along with the current economy status force many cruise lines to hold off from building new ships - the biggest expense of all. As a rule, all new cruise ships on order/currently under construction are by contracts signed years ago when the dollar had a good rate.

Cruise ship building prices are high enough to not meet the return requirement. Even the mighty Carnival Corporation (the largest cruise company in the world) puts its ship building plans on hold. Royal Caribbean is one of the few companies continuing to place orders for new ships - and not any ships, but the ever largest, the most innovative, the most expensive in the world. Still, most passenger ship lines are trying to keep their current fleet fresh and good looking. Two of the best examples are Holland America with its $450 million SOE program for ship renovations, and Carnival investing over $250 million to fully refit and refurbish 8 of its oldest vessels.

Meyer Werft deploys Dassault’s passenger ship design solutions

Naval architects can use the 3D Experience platform to design complex cruise ships

German shipyard Meyer Werft has started using Dassault Systèmes’ 3DExperience design and product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions to engineer and build passenger ships. It is using the On Time to Sea and Designed for Sea industry-specific software to improve the efficiency of designing and building cruise ships and ferries, and to enhance the skills of its workforce.

Meyer Werft has deployed Dassault’s programs in its new technology and development centre in Papenburg, Germany. Here the shipbuilder is pooling most of the design and development work from its 500 designers and engineers. Dassault’s software will also support additional teams in Papenburg and at sites in Rostock, Germany and in Finland that are involved in building cruise ships, river cruise ships, ferries and other vessels. The 3DExperience platform assists the complex task of designing and engineering cruise ships, which could have more than 10 million individual parts and assemblies. The complexity, diversity and large volume of data involved require efficient solutions to design and build these ships.

With the software, Meyer Werft’s design and development teams can use a unified digital environment to monitor the entire lifecycle of a ship, from its construction and operation to its decommissioning. Virtual design, engineering and project management applications help seamlessly address complex needs in product development and process requirements. “Thanks to the 3DExperience platform, we can foster collaborative creativity that fulfils the highest technical demands of passenger ship owners worldwide from hull shape, hydrodynamics and fuel consumption, to capacity and onboard comfort and entertainment,” said Meyer Werft technical director Philip Gennotte. “Today’s shipbuilding is a highly modern industry that requires a combination of ideas, knowledge and technology in order to introduce sophisticated, future-oriented touristic concepts.”

Crystal Cruises parent agrees to buy German shipyard

The parent company of Crystal Cruises has agreed to acquire leading shipyard Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven, Germany.

Global cruise and resort company Genting Hong Kong is to pay €17.5 million for 70% of a new shipbuilding business and a 50% ownership of the shipyard’s land.

The company will complete the acquisition of Lloyd Werft subject to the fulfilment of certain final purchase conditions.

The move follows plans for massive expansion of Crystal Cruises with the introduction of Crystal Yacht Cruises in December, Crystal River Cruises and Crystal Luxury Air in 2017 and new cruise ships from late 2018.

Genting Hong Kong signed a letter of intent earlier this year with Lloyd Werft to build Crystal’s ‘Exclusive Class’ polar-class cruise ships.

Lloyd Werft will also build luxury river yachts to sail to destinations in France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Genting Hong Kong chairman and chief executive, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, said: “Lloyd Werft has built and lengthened six of the ships owned by an affiliate of the company and has the expertise to build a series of world class cruise ships for the company, which will include the ‘Exclusive Class’ vessels for Crystal Cruises.

“Ownership in Lloyd Werft will enable Genting Hong Kong to leverage on the shipyard’s technical expertise and their well-established and long track record in the shipbuilding industry.”

Crystal president and chief executive, Edie Rodriguez, said: “With such great anticipation for Crystal River Cruises and Crystal Exclusive Class ocean vessels, we are incredibly excited about Genting’s groundbreaking investment in the Lloyd Werft shipyard that will contribute mightily to Crystal Cruises’ expansion.”