Overseeing the building of Storylines M/V Narrative, Paul Read and Gelen Marine are working closely to deliver what Read said was a high-quality, cost-efficient residential newbuild with Brodosplit shipyard in Croatia.

Gelen Marine is overseeing the design and build of the new Storylines vessel, working from the start with both Tillberg design of Sweden and Brodosplit.

The company has become a go-to outfit for cruise operators to manage newbuildings and conversions, having also been involved with Windstar’s trio of ship stretches at Fincantieri in Palermo.

For Storylines, Read told Cruise Industry News the initial ship design was well in progress, with a full ship specification package expected later this year, and construction set to begin in 2022.

Brodosplit will thus deliver the ship’s general arrangement plans, safe return to port, hull CFD and stability calculations; and the initial overall design, while Tillberg Design of Sweden is responsible for the vessel’s interiors and public spaces.

With the vessel still in the design phase, all technology options are on the table.

“On the technical side, when you consider it’s a residential ship and not a cruise ship, certain aspects are totally different,” Read said. “There are not 2,000 people coming on and off every week. Our operational profile is for longer stays in port, so you have to think about discharge, fuel bunkering and food, and getting water, which can be piped onboard so we don’t need to think about creating water as much.

“For the hull coating, we need to look at the anti-fouling coating since we are not moving so much, it’s completely different than a traditional cruise ship.”

Working closely with Lloyd’s Register, apartments onboard will have kitchenettes, which Read said wasn’t too difficult to come up with.

“They allow a ‘diet kitchen,’ which means pantry, giving you a microwave, induction oven, kettle or coffee maker, but no open flame,” he said.

Helping to future proof the M/V narrative, the ship will be designed like smart city with artificial intelligence (AI).

“If we’re sailing a certain way and have sun on the ship, and no one is in those (apartments), the AI can close the blinds so we don’t use so much energy,” Read explained.

The company has already committed to LNG but hybrid propulsion with peak shaving and battery power, along with fuel cells, is under consideration.

“We are looking at waste heat recovery, and also the waste cold recovery from LNG, and using that to cool the HVAC,” Read said.

For more on Storylines new M/V Narrative, be sure to read Sustainable Sailing by Cruise Industry News, due out in September.