Two important shipyards, Kleven and Lurssen have announced their partnership on a 100m/328ft expedition yacht, to be delivered to a customer whose identity remains a secret. The vessel will be constructed in collaboration with the design company Salt Ship Design.
2015 Ulysses constructed at Kleven – Photo by Thierry Ameller Photography
The superyacht, which has not yet been named, will be built at Kleven’s facilities in Norway where it will also be partially outfitted and technically finalised before Lurssen’s Blohm+Voss yard in Hamburg will take over the final outfitting.
Kleven was recently bought by Lurssen Group as part of an investor consortium, who bought a 40% share in the company for 300 million NOL (€308 million or $364 million USD at the time of publishing).
“This is a solid and long-term solution, creating opportunities for new and innovative projects,” said Ståle Rasmussen, CEO of Kleven.
“With their more than 140 years of history in the luxury yacht business, Lürssen is unrivalled in its experience and knowledge, and we are proud of the fact that they have chosen Kleven as their long-term partner.
“Kleven will be leaning heavily on expertise derived from building highly advanced, world-class offshore vessels. We hope this is the first of many vessels being built in this partnership,” he added.
Few details have been released at this stage and the exterior and interior designers, layout, engines and facilities have yet to be announced. The 100-metre superyacht is likely to share traits with the two explorer yachts currently being built by Kleven, however, one of which is 116m/381ft ULYSSES, due for launch before the end of 2017.
The collaboration between Lurssen and Kleven is not unprecedented: There has been a growing connection with commercial yards being used in the building of expedition yachts, with Ulsterin Werft, Piriou and Vard all having added sizeable explorer yachts to their books in recent years.
