Company insight
A trusted partner in changing times
With decades of expertise and hands-on experience, SunStone Ships offers guidance for fleet and vessel owners as well as other stakeholders. SunStone specialises in the commercial management of passenger ships and is responsible for the buying, selling and chartering of its managed fleet. Niels- Erik Lund, SunStone’s CEO, talks about the developments the company has lined up.
When was SunStone Ships founded and to what end? Niels-Erik Lund: In 1988 we formed a company to provide passenger ship management services, known as International Shipping Partners (ISP). Over the years, ISP became the world’s largest independent passenger ship management company. In 2012, German private equity firm Waterland was interested in purchasing the management portion of ISP, but not the assets, new building programme or commercial management. ISP was subsequently split into a number of different companies, one of which is SunStone Ships. In 2012 SunStone became the owner of the assets in ISP as well as the commercial manager of the vessels and the Infinity new building programme. Therefore, SunStone and its activities have been operating in some form since 1988.
How has your relationship with charterers and crew been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic? All our charterers naturally have major concerns at the moment, like everyone in the cruise and tourism industry. We have largely been out of operation since March 2020, which has greatly impacted our charterers. During this period, SunStone renegotiated all charter agreements to do our best to ensure the survival of our charterers, as it is in our interest that they all get through this difficult time so we can be back in business as soon as possible. So far, we have been successful in our efforts and we believe all our charterers will remain in business and continue chartering SunStone vessels in the future, with operations hopefully restarting for some of the ships in July 2021. We hope that the remainder of the fleet will return to operation for the Antarctic season in November 2021.
You are the first shipbuilding company to assemble a cruise vessel in China for the international market. How has the process been going amid the pandemic? Overall, we have been very satisfied with the new vessels built in China. The decision was made upfront that all equipment on board the vessels would be from European suppliers that have delivered to the cruise industry for more than ten years. In collaboration with the shipyard, the decision was made to work with European naval architect Ulstein Design, Florida- based Tomas Tillberg Design for interiors and Finnish interior contractor Makkinen. SunStone has worked with Tillberg and Makkinen for many years, and we are pleased that the Chinese shipyard, China Merchants Heavy Industries, accepted the involvement of these companies. Ulstein Design is also the equipment supplier, so all equipment has been purchased by Ulstein on behalf of the shipyard and in accordance with the owner’s preferred supplier list. We therefore consider the Infinity Series to be European ships assembled in China, and we are very pleased with the final result.
What are the key differences between manufacturing a vessel in China and Europe?
The main difference between Chinese and European shipbuilding is that China does not have experience in building cruise ships. As a result, Ulstein Design assembled a team to assist all technical installations, while a large Finnish team from Makkinen has been involved in the construction of the interior areas, as well as the training and supervision of Chinese contractors working on this aspect of the ships. SunStone also have approximately 30 technical staff at the shipyard to supervise the overall running of the project.
World Cruise Industry Review /
www.worldcruiseindustryreview.com
What vessels are currently being assembled? The first vessel, the Greg Mortimer, was delivered in 2019 and there are currently three vessels in the water scheduled for delivery during 2021. Two of the vessels, the Ocean Victory and Ocean Explorer, are scheduled for delivery at the end of April, and the Sylvia Earle is scheduled to be delivered in October. In addition, the Ocean Odyssey and Ocean Albatros are slated for delivery in 2022. The keel laying for the Ocean Odyssey and the steel cutting for the Ocean Albatros have already taken place. Then, in 2023, the Ocean Discovery is scheduled for delivery.
When will the vessels be delivered and where will they operate? The Ocean Victory will go on charter to Albatros Expeditions for winter seasons operating Antarctic cruises, and it is chartered to Victory Cruise Lines for summer seasons operating Alaska cruises. The Ocean Explorer has been chartered to Vantage Travel in the US and will operate cruises across the world. The Sylvia Earle is chartered to Aurora Expeditions in Australia and it is scheduled to operate Arctic and Antarctic cruises.
To what extent do you think the expeditionary segment is well poised for growth post-pandemic? Prior to the pandemic there had been a substantial annual increase in the expedition market niche for a number of years. 2019 was a record year for the segment and 2020 was forecast to be even better. Although 2020 and 2021 have been difficult for this segment, we expect that there will be immediate and substantial growth when routes reopen, and we look positively to 2022 and the years ahead. ●
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