Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri says a surge of cruiseship and naval orders this month has sent its backlog of work to 109 vessels.
The tally has spiralled from 99 vessels at the halfway stage of the year, June 30, after owners and operators including TUI Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Cunard piled in with firm contracts.
Princess Cruises also came to the table with a memorandum of agreement for two new generation vessels of 175,000 gt each, the largest ever built in Italy.
The latest deals added icing to Fincantieri’s first half 2018 intake of orders, and agreements, involving nine cruiseships, including options.
Total orders acquired between January and June totalled EUR 2.39bn. Add the July contracts into the mix and Fincantier’s backlog of work now exceeds EUR 32bn, a new record.
Chief executive Giuseppe Bono says it will provide work for years ahead. In 2018 alone it represents 15m production hours.
Fincantieri’s first half ebitda earnings came in at EUR 183m, well up on the EUR 146m logged in the corresponding period of 2017.
Net income was EUR 21m on revenues of EUR 2.53bn, up 10% on the year earlier revenue figure of EUR 2.30bn.
Backlog of firm work at the halfway stage of EUR 22.0bn compared with EUR 20.4bn at the same stage a year ago and amounted to approximately six times 2017 revenues.
Four cruiseships and two naval vessels were delivered during the period, as well as an oceanographic vessel for Norway.
Other recent orders include two expedition cruiseships to be built by Vard in which Fincantieri holds 85%
Fincantieri notes that closing of its agreement to purchase 50% of the share capital of cruiseship builder STX France remains subject to antitrust approval.
