Costa Group Orders Two More Ships for Chinese Market

The Costa Group has placed an order for two new ships to be built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri.

The ships, each with 135,500 gross tons and carrying 4,200 guests, will be delivered in 2019 and 2020. They will be operated by Costa Asia, the Asian brand of the Costa Group, and specifically designed for the Chinese market.

Costa Asia’s new ships are part of contracts signed by Carnival Corporation & plc with Fincantieri to build five new ships by 2020 at the company’s shipyards in Monfalcone and Marghera, Italy, finalizing a memorandum of agreement announced in 2015.

Costa Asia’s new ships will be the 13th and 14th cruise ships built in Italy by Fincantieri for Costa, with a total investment worth more than 6 billion euro.

The projects are expected to employ thousands of shipyards workers and employees of allied industries in Italy. The benefits in terms of employment will extend beyond the yards, especially regarding the fitting-out of the interiors of the cruise ships, with the involvement of contracted suppliers, most of which are Italian firms.

“We are happy to continue our long-standing strategic partnership with the Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. This new investment is expected to create wealth and employment for the Italian country as a whole. As for Costa Diadema, the latest Costa ship built by Fincantieri and the best expression of Italy’s finest, also Costa Asia ships will feature an innovative Italian style design. In addition this new order will allow us to continue significantly build the Chinese cruise market, which will become the second largest in the world at the end of the decade,” - said Michael Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group.

The Costa Group now has seven new ships on order with a total capacity of 41,000 berths (three for the German brand Aida Cruises; two for the Italian brand Costa Cruises; two for Costa Asia), bringing the total capacity of the fleet to 110,000 berths. 

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