The four newbuilds for Ponant will be named Le Laprouse, Le Champlain, Le Bougainville and Le Kerguelen, after French explorers.
Each will have 92 cabins a suites manned by 110 crew members, Ice Class 1C certification and comply with the international Cleanship label.
They will feature a dynamic positioning system to avoid dropping anchor, silent electronic propulsion and diesel engines which can run on lighter, less-polluting marine diesel oil.
The first of the four will be deployed to Australia when it’s delivered in 2018 (CW 14 Apr).
