# Carnival Orders New Ship for P&O Cruises



## Thamesphil

Carnival Corp continues its bullish newbuilding pace, announcing a fresh order for a P&O post-Panamax at Fincantieri. The 116,000-gt, 3,076-passenger P&O newbuilding will be delivered in spring 2010 at a cost of €535M ($707M), with that ship taking the building slot previously allocated to a 130,000-gt newbuilding for Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL), which will now be delivered in spring 2011. Carnival chairman Micky Arison said the P&O-CCL switch was not related to a change in market conditions, but rather, due to contract timing. “It had been our intention all along to schedule delivery of the P&O ship for 2010 and the CCL vessel for 2011. However, because we completed the agreement for the CCL newbuilding first, we temporarily placed it in the first available slot pending finalisation of the P&O agreement.” The additional P&O newbuilding will bring that brand’s fleet to seven vessels, including five existing ships and the Ventura to be delivered in April 2008. Following today’s announcement, Carnival Corp now has 20 ships on order, 14 of which are being constructed by its favoured partner Fincantieri, which sealed contracts for eight new Carnival Corp vessels, valued at nearly €3.5Bn ($4.6Bn) during 2006.


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