INTERVIEW clients to significantly influence how their ships look while they sail for them. Each vessel will bear the livery of the charterer throughout the time of their agreement, and SunStone can adapt interiors to match, says Lund. “We’ve always been able to offer customisation on the interior of our vessels, especially for our longer-term charters,” he says. “Our clients are offering different products to different demographics, and they will have certain expectations which we have to provide for.” SunStone’s flexibility has been even more pronounced with its series of newbuild ships, the Infinity class. By forming 10- to 15-year agreements with its charterers at the start of the construction process, it can provide them with a significant degree of influence over the design and configuration of the vessel. “Our interior designers can work with the charterer to determine what kind of look and feel they want, customising everything from colours and materials to furnishings and lighting,” explains Lund. “We can also change quite a lot about the division of space onboard and the ship’s capacity. While there’s limited scope to change the superstructure, we’ve even been able to include a twodeck observation lounge on some of our Infinity-class vessels, as opposed to open observation decks on others.” Despite its long experience within the industry, SunStone has never sold directly to passengers. The decision to remain purely a shipowner rather than an operator forms an important part of its offering to charterers, suggests Lund. “We made a promise to our clients a long time ago that we will never be in competition with them,” he says. “We will never sell tickets ourselves. We’re aiming to provide the ships and technical operation services, which is at the core of the SunStone DNA. It’s what we believe we are best at, and it enables our clients to do what they are best at.” “ We made a promise to our clients a long time ago that we will never be in competition with them”
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