Relaunched Swan Hellenic is backing its belief in cruiseships with another new order, despite fleets being laid up worldwide as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The former UK-based company, which was revived by Russia's Vodohod in Monaco in September, has struck a deal with Finland's Helsinki Shipyard to build a third expedition ship.
Swan Hellenic already has two Vega Class units on order at the shipbuilder.
The new cruiseship, known for the time being as Vega 3, will be larger than its sisterships at 12,000 gt.
The five-star polar PC6 ice-class vessel is 125 metres long, and will accommodate 192 passengers and 140 crew.
The vessel, for which no price was given, will feature a 4.6 MW diesel-electric hybrid propulsion system with selective catalytic reduction, a 3 MW battery package and ice-strengthened hull.
Vessels on a fast-track schedule
Swan Hellenic said procurement of the main equipment has already begun, with all three Vega ships following a fast-track schedule at the yard.
TradeWinds understands that Vodohod, a Russian river cruise operator, acquired the rights to the historic Swan Hellenic brand name in the summer.
The keel of the first ship was laid in September despite challenges posed by the pandemic.
This vessel is being named SH Minerva, after the company's first purpose-built vessel.
"With the three Vega ships scheduled for delivery in November 2021, April 2022 and year-end 2022, Swan Hellenic is demonstrating solid confidence both in the strength and resilience of the high-end cruise market and its own unique vision of cultural expedition cruising," the shipowner said.
Helsinki Shipyard chief executive Carl-Gustaf Rotkirch said the new deal was a significant one for his company, showing its clients’ confidence in the “long-term nature” of its operations.
Bouncing back?
Swan Hellenic chief executive Andrea Zito added: "We see the increase in demand for experiences that are truly out of the ordinary and are confident in the bounce back of our industry."
Zito is a former senior vice president at Silversea Cruises.
He is joined in the venture by several other well-known industry names including new UK-based managing director John Warner, who previously held senior management positions at Canadian expedition cruise operator G Adventures. Also on board is vice president of marketing Mario Bounas, previously director of sales in the UK for Royal Caribbean.
Grand beginnings
Swan Hellenic’s origins stretch back to the 1930s when, as the Hellenic Travellers Club, it chartered ships to take members of the British aristocracy and academia on educational cruises to places of historical interest in the eastern Mediterranean.
The company passed through the hands of a number of owners over the decades, but always maintained its educational focus, using small, comfortable ships often chartered from Mediterranean operators, such as Turkish Maritime Lines and Epirotiki Line.
In 1996, the company — then owned by P&O — teamed up with shipmanager V.Ships to build the 12,900-gt, 428-passenger cruiseship Minerva using the hull of an incomplete Russian research ship.
The company was later sold to the All Leisure Group, but ceased trading in 2016 after All Leisure ran into financial difficulties.
The Swan Hellenic name and clientele list were acquired the following year from All Leisure's liquidators by G Adventures, which initially planned to revive the company, but never did.
