Helsinki Shipyard (Helsinki, Finland), having received bids for NB 518's auction, announced that Swan Hellenic had been awarded the tender.
The shipyard exercised the right to sell the vessel by tender, provided for by the shipbuilding contract after the original buyer had fallen to take delivery of the ship.
The auction ended at midnight on Friday, December 9th, and was satisfactory for Helsinki Shipyard, which analyzed the bids and declared the Swan Hellenic company the winner.
The Shipyard and Swan Hellenic will enter into a new agreement for the completion of SH Diana, which is scheduled for delivery in March 2023, in time to commence cultural expedition voyages of the Mediterranean from the beginning of April.
Andrea Zito, CEO of Swan Hellenic Limited, said they were "happy to have secured SH Diana, a Polar Class PC6 vessel with state-of-the-art ship technology and sustainability that will enter service as planned in April."
"We look forward to welcoming our guests aboard SH Diana to experience our cultural expedition cruises in the historic regions for which they were first conceived.”
According to Kim Salmi, Helsinki Shipyard’s CEO, the shipyard was satisfied with multiple inquiries and received bids. They were also happy to announce Swan Hellenic as the winner of the tender, as it naturally helped the next step, "the fast agreement and continuation of works for completion of the vessel according to the plan in March."
SH Diana cruise ship is the third/last of Swan Hellenic's newbuilds, with fleetmates SH Minerva (2021) and SH Vega (2022). While Minerva and Vega are with PC5 ice-classed hulls and 76 staterooms (max passengers 152), SH Diana is slightly longer (125 vs 115 m), larger (12500 vs 10600 GT-tons/volume), with a PC6-classed hull (vs PC5), and 96 staterooms (max passengers 192).