By
Rebecca Gibson |
Integrated steel and mining company ArcelorMittal is to provide steel for the hulls and decks of three cruise ships on order at STX France’s Saint-Nazaire shipyard in France.
ArcelorMittal will supply a minimum of 116,000 tonnes of steel for Royal Caribbean International’s third Oasis-class ship, which will be delivered in spring 2018, and MSC Cruises’ new Vista-class ships, due to be delivered in May 2017 and April 2019.
“This long-term agreement is a continuation of the partnership already entered into for the supply of the steel required for the construction of the third Oasis-class ship,” said Bertrand Paquet, senior vice president of sourcing, STX France. “It is the culmination of a long negotiating process between the ArcelorMittal and STX France teams. We are very pleased, because this agreement enables us to attain the technical and economic performance required for the construction of the cruise ships that we currently have on order.”
All plates and coils will be supplied from ArcelorMittal’s European plants, with the Fos-sur-Mer plant supplying the coils for construction of the decks. These will be processed into sheets in Saint-Nazaire by ArcelorMittal’s unit, Distribution Solutions France. Meanwhile, the ArcelorMittal Asturias plant in Gijón, Spain will produce the steel plates for construction of the hulls. The first deliveries will start in January 2015.
“We are very proud that our steels have again been chosen by STX France for the construction of some of the world’s most outstanding cruise ships,” said Reiner Blaschek, chief marketing officer of ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products. “This demonstrates that steels produced and processed by ArcelorMittal in Europe meet the very high standards of the best shipbuilders such as STX France.”