China Merchants Heavy Industry Construction ~Ulstein won SunStones 4th exploration ship design contract

Norwegian ship design company Ulstein has recently received a contract from Miami's adventure carrier operator SunStoneShips to design the fourth expedition ship for SunStone.

The new ship, named "Ocean Explorer", was built by China Merchants Heavy Industry and is the fourth of a series of five Infinity-class expeditions built by China Merchants Heavy Industries for SunStone. In November last year, SunStone upgraded two Infinity-class expeditions in China Merchants Heavy Industries, increasing the total number of hand-held orders to five.

SunStone's Infinity-class expedition ship is designed with the Ulstein CX103, with a length of 104.3 meters and a width of 18.4 meters. It can accommodate 850-115 crew members and 130-200 passengers. The hull is constructed with polar 6 and polar Cat B codes with dynamic positioning. The system and zero speed stabilizer are applied by Ulstein's patented X-Bow hull design.

The "Ocean Explorer" will be leased by Vantage Cruise Line and will be scheduled to sail in East Asia, the Mediterranean and Scandinavia.

In 2017, SunStone ordered 1+9 ice-class expeditions in China Merchants Heavy Industries. At present, 5 of the 10 expeditions have been confirmed to be valid. This also makes China Merchants Heavy Industry become the Chinese shipyard for the expedited cruise ship order.

Among them, the SunStone adventure ship "Greg Mortimer" will be delivered in the third quarter of 2019, and will be leased to the Australian company Aurora Expedition. The second "OceanDiscoverer" will be delivered in August 2020 and will also be leased to AuroraExpedition. The third "Ocean Victory" is scheduled to be delivered in March 2021 and will be leased to Victory Cruise Lines for long-term delivery.