Major expansion at Hapag-Lloyd

A major expansion at Hapag-Lloyd will see them make a few changes over the coming years.

Two Oceania new builds will be launching in the next 15 months and Oceania has decided it can manage without one of it’s smaller ships. From April 2012 the line is chartering it’s Insignia to TUI owned German cruise line Hapag-Lloyd to sail as Columbus 2.

The expansion will also see Hapag-Lloyd add a luxury ship, Europe 2 to their fleet in 2013. They have designed the ship and persuaded an unnamed company to build it at the STX Europe shipyard in St. Nazaire France. Hapag-Lloyd will then charter the vessel for a minimum of 12 years. Construction will begin on the new vessel in September and should take around 18 months to complete.

Hapag-Lloyd said “the new build will offer a more casual luxury experience than the 408-passenger Europa, which it operates alongside two exploration ships, Bremen and Hanseatic.” The cruise line also already has a premium ship called Columbus, which holds 420 passengers.