Fincantieri cashes in on Msc ships

Genoa - Fincantieri has come to an agreement with MSC Cruises for two vessels to be built at Monfalcone’s shipyards, delivering in 2017. The news was confirmed by two authorized sources, and should be officially announced the first week of June. MSC signed - thus confirming the rumors of recent weeks – two letters of intent with Fincantieri, in Italy, and STX, in France, to build two ships in both shipyards designed by the same team of architects (De Iorio Design International, Yran & Storbraaten, Tillberg Design). These two ships that are paired by their respective options will be added to the orders to be delivered in 2017 and 2019 (plus options). In short, the plan to double the MSC fleet is in progress, while on Monday the first section of the Armonia will be laid out in Palermo. This is part of the Renaissance programme, an investment of 1.5 billion euros to renew the 4 oldest ships of the Italian-Swiss fleet. This is a first step to reconciling Fincantieri and MSC, after almost 10 years of reciprocal distrust. Two weeks ago, MSC technicians inspected Monfalcone’s shipyards, in order to study the characteristics of the docks and the cranes that will be used for the construction of 2 vessels 310 meters long and around 40 meters wide, with a gross tonnage of 152,000 tons and an estimated value of 1 billion euros.

While Monfalcone has in it MSC men, Sestri today will host technicians from the Prestige group. A 58,000 ton vessel will be built in Genoa for the Regent brand (a 450 million dollar order). The cutting of the first steel is expected in July. But above all, in addition to the stock exchange listing, Prestige will announce in June two new orders for the Oceania brand, to be delivered after 2016. It will be for ships to twin Marina and Riviera, extra deluxe 66,000 ton vessels that werer delivered from the shipyards at Sestri Ponente in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The shipyard in Genoa is a candidate for the construction of these two units (that have been in discussion for a while). This confirms the specialization of Sestri in midsize ships – reiterated to Secolo XIX a few days ago by Giuseppe Bono, Fincantieri’s top man. There are rumors of a new order for Riva Trigoso and Muggiano: as a matter of fact, Fincantieri has made a contingent agreement with Iraq for the delivery of two corvettes ordered in 1980 by Saddam Hussein but never delivered due to the UN embargo after the invasion in Kuwait. The contract called for a closing of all pending litigation and an agreement for the refurbishment and commissioning of the two units, Musa Bin Nasir and Tariq Bin Ziyad. The contracts will be finalised soon.

In the meantime, the Board of Directors at Fincantieri has approved the financial statements for the first quarter (the first after the merger with Vard): 923 million euros of consolidated revenues, 66 million of EBITDA, 10 million in profits, mostly due to the offshore activities in Brazil. The net financial position registered by the group on March 31st 2014 is 417 million in the red. The net assets add up to 1.2 billion, while there were investments of 27 million in the first quarter. New orders totaled 1.7 billion euros.