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New ships ordered for Holland America and Carnival Cruise Lines

Carnival Corporation has placed a $1.3bn (£808m) order for two new cruise ships - a 99,000-ton ship for its Holland America Line brand and a 135,000-ton vessel for Carnival Cruise Lines.

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri will build a 2,660-passenger ship for Holland America for delivery in fall 2015 and a 4,000-passenger vessel for Carnival, scheduled for delivery in winter 2016.

The Holland America ship, which will be a new class of vessel for the line, will enter service five years after the last Holland America ship, the ms Nieuw Amsterdam, delivered in 2010.

Carnival Breeze was the most recent addition to the Carnival fleet in Spring 2012

The Carnival Cruise Lines vessel, also a new class of ship, will be launched four years after the introduction of Carnival Breeze, which made her debut in spring 2012.

The timing of capacity additions for these brands is similar to the five year span between upcoming new ship introductions for both Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises (UK), previously announced.

“Today’s order continues the company’s strategy of introducing two to three ships per year across the corporation’s 10 brands,” said Carnival Corporation CEO Micky Arison.

“We have strategically timed the introduction of these new ships to allow ample time for those brands to further grow their passenger base and absorb the new capacity while minimising revenue yield dilution in the remainder of their existing fleets,”

Carnival Corporation now has nine new ships scheduled for delivery - two for 2013, two for 2014, three for 2015 and two for 2016.

Nieuw Amsterdam joined the Holland America Line fleet in 2010

Arison also noted that the addition of new tonnage is expected to result in sale of some of its older ships.

The greement with Fincantieri continues the company’s longstanding and successful relationship with the Italian shipbuilder, which dates back more than 20 years.

Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, said: “These additional orders bring the total number of ships we have built for Carnival Corporation to 61 and confirm Fincantieri’s world leadership in the cruise ship sector even at a time of slowing demand.”  Bono added, “We view these orders as a very positive development for the Italian economy and the global cruise industry.”