Fincantieri delivers the 'Queen Anne'

Cunard had already announced a series of collaborations for Queen Anne, including Le Gavroche at Sea dining experiences by Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux, wellness packages developed by the beauty experts of Harper's Bazaar UK, and exclusive screenings by the British Film Institute in the Pavilion. A wide selection of fitness, beauty, spa and wellness facilities are also on board.

The cruise sector has the wind in its sails, assures Fincantieri's CEO Pierroberto Folgiero: 'We see a huge growth in demand for investment, we are working with all ship owners. We have no concerns about the possibility of maintaining, employing, maximising utilisation and employment in all our Italian shipyards., We closed 2023 very well, we feel we can confirm the guidelines for 2024 which we believe will be in great continuity with the good results of 2023 as revenues, as margins, as cash generation, as portfolio development. The shipbuilding business, both for the commercial part, so cruise ships and work ships, and for the military part, is in a very strong moment, from the market point of view in the strict sense, I think of the commercial part, but also in terms of geopolitics, I think of the military part."

Folgiero also said that he shared "Roberto Cingolani's thoughts when he calls everyone, European institutions, including antitrust and all companies, to look at the continent's industrial base differently. The world will come out divided into blocs and the European bloc must also adopt new strategies to build a stronger industrial base. I therefore welcome all managerial, industrial, institutional initiatives that will go in this direction because the situation is such that the time has come to put our hands in the gears and create a true European industrial base'.

Over the past few days Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard was visited by the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton: the occasion was an in-depth look at the contents of the SEA Europe Maritime Industry Strategy document. Fincantieri's top management also showed the Commissioner the ships under construction during a visit to the shipyard.

The future, 'will be of the digital and low- and progressively zero-emission ship. These are themes that must be interpreted as innovation by the shipbuilders, who then provide the solutions. Along these lines we will create the distinctiveness that will allow the shipbuilding industry in Italy to grow,' Folgiero emphasises. In this path of innovation "we will bring along our SMEs," he added, "which are part of an ecosystem that will have to develop along the lines of the green ship.

Also present at the handover of the cruise ship 'Queen Anne' was the Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso: 'The new route we want to take is that of reaffirming the competitiveness and technological strength of our continent by responding to global challenges with an assertive policy that reconfirms the role of European manufacturing and its global tradition. This is why we will soon be able to count on a Framework Law on the Maritime Economy, but also on another on the Space Economy, which are some of the strategic elements for meeting the challenge of global competitiveness,' he said.