Dutch shipyard gets $45 million order from U.S. cruise line

Enlargement of ‘Enchantment of the Seas’

ROZENBURG, the Netherlands - The Keppel-Verolme Shipyard has been hired to enlarge a cruise ship owned by Miami, Florida-based Royal Caribbean International. The vessel, ‘Enchant-ment of the Seas’, will be stretched with an eleven decks high, 22-metres long segment in its current 279-metres long hull.

The ship surgery contract represents a value of $45 million and could be followed by similar orders for two more Royal Caribbean cruise ships.

The segment is being constructed at a yard in Finland, where the ship was built and launched in 1997. The section will be towed to Rozenburg, where Keppel-Verolme then will cut the cruise ship in half, move the bow part and insert the addition. The new section will contain 150 cabins and a number of restaurants, all to be built in the Netherlands. At the same time, other parts of the ship will be refurbished. The entire operation at the Dutch shipyard should be completed within 60 days.

The upgraded ‘Enchantment of the Seas’ will measure a gross tonnage of 80,700, now 74,000. The ship, registered in Norway, now has a passenger capacity of 2,446.

Keppel Verolme (formerly Verolme Botlek) specializes in conversions and repairs. The shipyard was founded by entrepreneur Cornelis Verolme in 1954. The firm provides integrated services for dry-docking, repair, modification and conversion of any type of vessel and floating unit. It is part of the Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd. group of Singapore.