On May 30, 2024, SunStone Ships’ seventh Infinity-series expedition vessel, the Douglas Mawson, reached a major milestone with its keel laying at the China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) Shipyard. The 186-guest expedition ship is set for delivery in 2025.
The keel laying was celebrated in traditional fashion, with representatives from CMHI (shipyard), SunStone (owner), Bureau Veritas (classification body), and MAKINEN (interior contractor) present. The ceremony highlighted the international collaboration essential to the project. MAKINEN will begin the interior works for the project in the coming week.
On May 30, 2024, SunStone Ships’ seventh Infinity-series expedition vessel, the Douglas Mawson, achieved a significant milestone with its keel laying at the China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) Shipyard. This 186-guest expedition ship is on track for delivery in 2025.
The keel laying ceremony, attended by CMHI (shipyard), SunStone (owner), Bureau Veritas (classification body), and MAKINEN, who has successfully completed interiors for the six previous vessels in the series, highlighted the global collaboration. This project involves a consortium of industry leaders including Ulstein Design, SunStone Ships, Tomas Tillberg Design, MAKINEN, and CMHI. MAKINEN will begin interior works for the Douglas Mawson project in the coming week, marking another crucial step towards completing this final vessel of the series.
The expedition vessel is part of a long-term charter with Aurora Expeditions and will join their fleet, which includes the Greg Mortimer and the Sylvia Earle. Designed for worldwide exploration and sustainability, the Douglas Mawson will start its expeditions in December 2025, traveling to places like East Antarctica, the Ross Sea, and New Zealand’s Subantarctic Islands. Its first voyage will be a ten-day trip to Tasmania, leaving and returning to Hobart.
Timo Mouru, Director of Newbuilding:
”The next official milestone is the launch, scheduled for late November. So far, everything has gone as planned. Design and procurement have progressed well, setting us up excellently for the construction phase. Conditions are better than ever because we’ve had sufficient time to plan and procure properly. We aim to deliver our best performance yet in the ship series!”
