Workers laid the keel for Ponant’s new hybrid electric polar exploration ship Le Commandant Charcot last month. The French-owned cruise company hopes to make itself a model of responsible tourism by incorporating the latest innovations in environmental protection while building Le Commandant Charcot.
Shipbuilders laid the keel for Le Commandant Charcot at the Vard shipyard in Tulcea, Romania on December 14, 2018. The occasion came about a year after Ponant first announced its order in December 2017 and a month after the ship’s traditional steel cutting ceremony in November 2018.
Ponant expects Le Commandant Charcot to become the first exploration vessel to surpass the ecological standards set out in international regulations. The ship will be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), reducing its emissions.
With the second key stage in the ship’s construction still on schedule, Ponant expects Le Commandant Charcot to launch in 2020 and to be delivered in 2021. Designed for polar exploration, and with PC2 Polar Class certification, the new ship will be able to travel to destinations around Antarctica like the Ross Sea, Charcot Island and Peter I Island, as well as the geographic North Pole.
Created in 1988 by Jean Emmanuel Sauvée and a dozen officers of the French Merchant Navy, Ponant specializes in luxury cruising. Its itineraries combine exceptional destinations and luxury hotel service, aboard smaller-scale ships.
This article was originally published on www.travelagentcentral.com.
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