Oasis Class Cruise Ship - Third Oasis-class Cruise Ship

Third Oasis-class Cruise Ship

On 3 October 2012, the Finnish media reported that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy and the Minister of Economic Affairs were in talks to finance a third Oasis-class vessel for Royal Caribbean International to be built by STX Finland. Turku shipyard, which is currently building an LNG-powered cruiseferry Viking Grace for Viking Line and is scheduled to begin the construction of a newbuilding for TUI Cruises in November 2012, has no orders beyond that. For this reason, the government officials were expected to present Royal Caribbean with an attractive financing package to stimulate economic growth and ensure employment — the third Oasis-class cruise ship would be worth nearly 1 billion euro and the order would provide work for the Finnish Maritime Cluster for 12,000 man-years. However, on 23 November 2012 it was reported that the Cabinet Committee had refused to finance the loan for the order. Through December 2012, STX Finland and the potential order for the third Oasis-class vessel was in the Finnish news almost daily while the Government debated whether or not grant a 50 million euro loan to the shipyard. One of the reasons why the loan was not readily given was the poor financial situation of the parent company, STX Corporation. On 21 December 2012, the Government of Finland again refused to loan money to the shipyard, but offered a 28.3 million euro "innovation fund" if the ship, dubbed Sanctuary in the news, is ordered.

Initially, Royal Caribbean refused to comment on "a rumor". However, on 25 October 2012 Royal Caribbean confirmed that the company was engaged in negotiations to build a third Oasis-class vessel and hoped to enter an agreement before the year's end. The ship, which the company would expect to cost less per berth basis than the two previous ships and to be more energy efficient, would be delivered in middle to late 2016.