On Friday April 26, 2013 at a formal ceremony, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises took delivery of the modern and casual luxury ship Europa 2 from the STX France shipyard in Saint Nazaire. Dr Wolfgang Flägel, Managing Director of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises and Laurent Castaing, General Manager of STX France, signed the takeover protocol. Captain Friedrich Jan Akkermann will navigate the newest member of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ fleet across the world’s oceans.

After a 20 months construction period, the management of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises took delivery of the Europa 2. After signing the acquisition papers, Dr. Flägel said: “Today is a special day for us. By adding the Europa 2 to our fleet, we are acquiring the latest generation of cruise ship, which embodies an entirely new type of luxury cruising at sea. I am certain that we will raise the bar with the Europa 2 in the luxury cruise sector.”

After the signatures and flag change on deck had taken place, Laurent Castaing handed over a large canvas portrait of the Europa 2 to Captain Akkermann. In recent weeks over 1,000 of the shipyard’s employees worked to complete the cruise ship. Amongst other materials, 20,000 lbs. of steel have been used, around 186 miles of  cable and 247,570 square feet of carpet were laid.
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