Advertisement

P&O Cruises celebrates build milestone for Britain’s newest cruise ship

A key stage in the construction of Britain’s newest and most contemporary cruise ship has been marked at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg.

The team building P&O Cruises’ 180,000gt Iona, which will be powered by liquefied natural gas, making it the UK’s greenest ship, celebrated the milestone with the traditional coin-laying ceremony.

A bronze coin from the historic Iona Abbey and a slice of precious green Iona marble from the island were placed under the block housing the bow thrusters before the block was then lowered onto these items.

P&O Cruises president Paul Ludlow, who attended the event, said: ‘This was an auspicious occasion in Iona’s build. The coin-laying is a long-held ship-building tradition which is to bring good luck to the ship and its crew through from construction to the future at sea.

‘It is very special to think that a small part of the island of Iona will live within our own Iona. We hope that the qualities of beauty, heritage, pride, camaraderie, mutual support and loyalty from the island which attracted us to the name will be inherent in our ship, its crew and guests.

‘The build of any ship is an incredible achievement but to see one of this size and scope is an extraordinary feat of skilled design and engineering.’

As part of the ceremony the ship’s central steel block, which has already been constructed, was floated out on to the water.

The 21.5m long block weighs 461 tons, is 19.4m wide and 9.8m high and had to be lifted by a 600-ton crane.

The next steps are the block assembly of the bow and forward part of the ship in the dock as well as the further outfitting of the ‘mega block’ in the harbour basin.

In August, the ‘mega block’ will be brought inside to the building dock and welded to the forward part.

Iona will be launched in May 2020 and will spend her maiden summer season in the Norwegian Fjords sailing seven night holidays from Southampton followed by winter sun holidays to the Canaries, Spain and Portugal.

Ships Montly - January 2024

Concordia Damen delivers Shallow Draft River Pusher

Paraguayan shipowner and operator Girona SA– Rio Sur Transporte y Logistica has taken delivery of their new fleet addition Veronica V, designed and built...
Advertisement

Related articles

Concordia Damen delivers Shallow Draft River Pusher

Paraguayan shipowner and operator Girona SA– Rio Sur Transporte y Logistica has taken delivery of their new fleet...

Maersk names its 11th dual-fuel vessel Albert Maersk in Mumbai

A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) marked a significant milestone in Mumbai on 28 February 2025 with the naming...

PIL names its fourth 14,000TEU LNG Dual-Fuel Container Vessel

On 10 March 2025 Pacific International Lines (PIL) announced the naming of its fourth 14,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel...

Cargo ship runs aground in Humber

The 2004-built cargo vessel H&S Wisdom, a Dutch-flagged ship, ran aground in the Humber Estuary on 2 March...