The keel has been laid in Romania for Ponant’s Le Commandant Charcot, an LNG-powered ice-breaking cruise ship set to debut in 2021 for the French luxury line.
The keel was laid at the Vard shipyard in Tulcea, Romania, earlier this month.
This second key stage in the construction of the vessel is on schedule, Ponant said. The launch is planned for 2020, before its delivery in 2021.
The ship’s traditional steel cutting ceremony was held in November 2018.
Designed for intense polar explorations, and with PC2 Polar Class certification, Le Commandant Charcot will be able to reach destinations such as the Geographic North Pole and remote sites of the Antarctic continent including the Ross Sea, Charcot Island and Peter I Island.
