Los Angeles – Viking Ocean Cruises and Fincantieri have signed an agreement to build two more cruise ships. The new units join the four ships already ordered and will become a part of the Viking fleet in mid-2018 and at the end of 2020. The contract will be operational when all technical and financial conditions are defined. The first vessel was delivered in the spring of 2015, while the second and third will enter into service respectively in 2016 and 2017. The technical and financial conditions for the fourth ship are still being finalized. These new units will be allocated to ocean cruises and will have a gross tonnage of about 47,800; they will be equipped with 465 cabins and will be able to accommodate 930 passengers on board, for a total accommodation capacity of over 1,400 people, including crew. They will be built according to the latest regulations on navigation, and equipped with modern security systems, including the “safe return to port.” The new units will be designed by Fincantieri, whilst the layout of the interior, as for the other cruise ships, will be entrusted to Rottet in Los Angeles and SMC Design in London. Since 1990, Fincantieri has built 70 cruise ships (47 since 2002), and has another 14 units under construction or about to be built. (9Colonne)