[ 17 ] We also spent a lot of time looking at the future and how things were going to change, making sure that the new ships would move the P&O Ferries story forward, being fit for purpose for the next thirty years and beyond. As befits a newbuilding project, we gained first-hand experience from other ferry operators, notably those across the Fehmarn Belt and the Sound. Both services gave us better insights into double-ender ferry operations. When it came to the quality of finishing, we had handpicked Tallink’s Megastar as our reference ship. Completed by Finland’s Meyer Turku shipyard in early 2017, Megastar operated the Tallink Shuttle service between Tallinn and Helsinki. The ship’s Finnish interior architect, dSign Vertti Kivi & Co, also provided a draft interior design. BUILDING IN CHINA The long list of shipyards that received our preliminary outline specifications soon became a much shorter one after several of the shipyards said that they physically couldn’t build a 230.5-metre-long ship, while others, especially eminent European yards, had full cruise ship orderbooks and weren’t interested in building ferries. In mid-2019, we were ready for our final call for tenders, primarily setting our mind on renowned European and South Korean ferry builders for the very reason that these were the yards bidding to build our Spirits. We had long negotiations with Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft and Remontowa Shipbuilding as both yards had built double-ended ferries for Canada’s BC Ferries. While the double-enders built at the former yard were then the world’s largest of their kind, those built at the latter Polish yard were way smaller, which was one of the reasons why negotiations with Remontowa Shipyard didn’t lead to an order. Chinese yards were initially not in the mix, but our eversupportive owner, DP World, recommended to take China into consideration. We spoke to the big builders of ro-ro and ferry tonnage in China, primarily focusing on Jinling Nanjing and Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI). We briefly considered CMI Jinling Weihai Shipyard but were pretty sure that they had already reserved slots for another ferry operator building a series of ropax ferries there. In between, there were also talks with Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry and it wasn’t until Jinling Nanjing fell out that GSI stepped in again. In Europe, Damen was still high on our list. They too had built doubleenders for BC Ferries and, in May 2019, had landed an order for LNG-battery hybrid ro-ro ferries for Canada’s Seaspan. The Dutch shipyard group were to build our ships at their newly acquired Mangalia site in Romania, but due to the poor conditions of the yard facilities, Damen couldn’t guarantee a 2023 delivery. Both Damen and GSI were thrown in and out at various stages but were eventually the last ones on our list. We put pen to paper in September 2019 with GSI winning the GBP 220 million double-order. GSI had an excellent track record and back in 2003 they were the first Chinese yard to build ro-pax ferries for a European shipowner. Many shipyards try to cut corners, offering a cheaper alternative to what a shipowner proposes. Not so with GSI as we managed to impose our will. We also had our final say for the choice of big equipment. So, we really felt that our money was best spent with them. You can read more about the Fusion-class, its builders, naval architects, interior designers and all key suppliers and partners on the next pages of this commemorative book. We hope you’ll enjoy the read. “ The long list of shipyards that received our preliminary outline specifications soon became a much shorter one after several of the shipyards said they physically couldn’t build a 230.5-metrelong ship while other shipyards, especially the renowned European ones, had full cruise ship orderbooks and weren’t interested in building ferries” SHIPBUILDING
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