Aker Yards ASA (www.akeryards.com) is an international shipbuilding group focusing on sophisticated vessels and being one of the world's largest shipbuilders. The product range includes cruise vessels & ferries, merchant vessels, offshore vessels & specialized vessels. Aker Yards, with a annual turnover of approx. EUR 2 bn, comprises 17 yards in Norway , Finland , France , Germany , Romania , Brazil and Ukraine with some 20,000 employees.

Aker Yards is part of the Aker Group (www.akerasa.com), a leading multi-industry powerhouse with more than 50,000 employees and EUR 10 billion revenues. Aker owns 50.4 per cent of Aker Yards, and the group is also a significant participant in the oil & gas business as well as the fisheries industry.

Aker Yards´ three yards in Finland are located in Turku , Helsinki and Rauma. A large part of the world's cruise ships have come from the company's shipyards, the major customers within this vessel segment being the globally leading cruise operators. Aker Yards is also the leading ferry builder in the world, as well as an expert in multipurpose icebreakers and sophisticated naval craft.

The 3.5 billion EUR order book of Aker Yards in Finland includes 13 newbuildings: The world`s three largest cruise vessels for Royal Caribbean, a cruise vessel and two fast day ferries for Color Line, a cruise ferry and a fast passenger ferry for Tallink, a ropax and a passenger ferry for Brittany Ferries, two container vessels for Baltic Container Shipping and a fast passenger/car ferry for Viking Line. In addition, Option Agreements have been signed with Royal Caribbean and Color Line.

Aker Yards has comprehensive experience in executing demanding projects, based on the history of 3,500 ships designed and built in Finland - both long series and extremely demanding one-offs. Deliveries include cruise vessels, car-passenger ferries, fast ferries, ice breakers, naval craft, offshore vessels.....

Today Aker Yards is focusing on developing innovative and commercially sound solutions for its customers. The main focus is on the Cruise & Ferries business area, being among the top builders in the world. Superior usability, efficient operating and a high standard of passenger comfort are trademarks of the solutions that Aker Yards can provide.

Icebreaking technology has always been a strong niche within Finnish shipbuilding.

Aker Yards` knowledge in ice technology is beyond compare. 60 % of the world`s icebreakers have been built by the company. The most advanced ship designs, as the multipurpose icebreaker and the double acting icebreaker-supply vessel originate from the yards.

The subsidiary company Aker Arctic has erected a modern new ice model test facility in the Vuosaari district of Helsinki. There is a new model basin twice as wide as the one used today. The company models wide-scaled offshore operations, and markets and sells complete ship projects.

Aker Yards could be called the purveyor of the Finnish Navy. Deliveries include mine layers, fast surface combatants, multi-purpose hovercraft ... The yard has special expertise in new purpose-specific solutions, such as the use of composite structures, stealth materials and advanced operational technology.

Over the years, over 100 naval craft has been delivered for the Navy. The co-operation dates back to the 1930`s. In the eighties four Helsinki-class missile boats were delivered, and in the nineties four of Rauma-class. The series of four missile boats for the new “Squadron 2000” are called the Hamina-class.

Aker Yards also has an own Lifecycle Services department, through which the yard wants to support the cruise operators to ensure that year after year cruise customers receive the state of the art experience onboard that they are used to.

Subsidiary Aker Yards Piikkio specialises in the building of cabin areas based on the concept of prefabricated cabin and bathroom modules for the ship building industry. They do design, consulting, manufacture and installation.

The number of personnel at Aker Yards in Finland amounts to some 3,800 employees. The company`s "assembly yard" concept means employing directly these "own" people and lots of others in co-operation companies, thus boosting the whole surrounding economic region.

The shipyards within the company have for several years adapted this concept, utilising a network of advanced partners. A lot of outfitting work is out-sourced to them, and the network of suppliers today form an integrated part of the shipbuilding activities. The co-operating companies have adapted their own production to seamlessly fit into the projects of the shipyard.

The Marine Industry in Finland employs some 24,000 people. When also the harbours and owners are included, the Sea Cluster in Finland employs ca. 47,000 people.

With the highly qualified workforce and network of advanced partners combined with Aker Yards´ highly qualified production and project management, the assembly yard philosophy leads to the shortest possible throughput time, excellent quality and overall economy.

In keeping with our assembly yards philosophy, we have tuned our management and networking skills up to top class.

The Aker Yards shipyards in Finland , situated in Turku , Helsinki and Rauma, are all amongst the largest yard facilities in Europe . The modern and efficient units have benefited from several investment and development programmes.

The yard in Turku is one of the biggest and most modern shipyards in Europe , building post-panama size cruise vessels. The dimensions of the newbuilding dock (365 x 80 x 10 metres) enable the construction of virtually any type of vessel and the dock is equipped with a 600 tonnes gantry crane.

The yard in Helsinki is specializing in car-passenger ferries. The modern shipyard has a covered dry dock of 280.5 x 34 x 9.5 metres.

The Rauma yard with a newbuilding dock measuring 260 x 85 x 9 m is the world`s leading ferry builder, and is also specialized in multipurpose icebreakers and naval craft.

On 5 January, 2005 a contract was signed for the construction of three container carriers with Baltic Container Shipping, a company established to acquire the vessels and long-term charter them to the Swedish shipping company TransAtlantic. The vessels (NB 448-450) are purpose-built for carrying SECU-units (Stora Enso Container Unit), which have larger dimensions and a larger payload than a standard container. The 13,800 dwt vessels will be 190 m long and 26 m wide. They will have a cargo capacity of 155 SECUs. The propulsion machinery will consist of two medium speed diesel engines, equipped with catalytic reduction of exhaust gas emissions. The first in the series, “TransPaper” was delivered on 18 August 2006 and the second, to be delivered later in 2006 was named as “TransPulp” in October. The third is scheduled for delivery early next year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. continues developing extremely large cruise vessels for the volume segments of the market. Three Freedom-class, ultra large cruise vessels were ordered (NB 1352-54), of which the first, “Freedom of the Seas” was delivered on 24 April 2006, the second vessel (ordered on 8 September 2004), “Liberty of the Seas” to be delivered in spring 2007 was floated out on 4 August 2006, and the third (ordered on 31 March 2005) is scheduled for delivery in 2008. The 154,000 GT Freedom class is a lengthened version of the five Voyager-class vessels, delivered during 1999 to 2003.

Under production in Turku yard, roughly 15 percent larger than the Voyager-class, the Freedom-class vessels have a length over all of 339 m and a beam of 38.6 m. At double-occupancy, they carry 3,600 passengers and a crew of 1,400.

In 2009, the successor of the world´s largest will be the even larger 220,000 GT new generation cruise vessel, (NB 1363, work name Genesis) ordered by Royal Caribbean on February 6, 2006 . The contract includes an option for a similar vessel. The 360 m long and 47 m wide vessel will carry 5,400 passengers.

On 19 December 2005 a contract was signed with the Estonian Tallink Grupp for a sistership (NB 1361) for the new generation cruise ferry “Galaxy” (NB 453) delivered from the Rauma yard for the Estonian Tallink Group on 18 April 2006 .. The 48,300 gt vessels are an enlargened version of MS Romantika and Victoria I built for Tallink by Aker Yards recently.

The new vessel with capacity for 2,800 passengers and 1,130 lane metres of cargo will be one of the biggest and fastest cruise ferries in the Baltic, with a speed of 24.5 knots.

On May 27, 2005 a contract was signed with Color Line to build a sister vessel to MS Color Fantasy, the world's largest cruise ship with car deck that was delivered in December 2004. The agreement includes a buyer's option to purchase a third vessel. The new vessel will be named MS Color Magic and will traffic the route Oslo – Kiel as from the fourth quarter 2007.

Color Magic will be Color Lines second cruise ship with a car deck, and will have a wide variety of entertainment and conference areas. The number of cabins will be higher than on Color Fantasy. The vessel (NB 1355) will be 223.7 metres long and 35 metres wide.

MS Color Magic´s keel was laid on 8 August, 2006 . The vessel will be built partly at the yard in Turku , and partly at the yard in Rauma. Delivery will take place in Rauma in autumn 2007.

On August 1, 2005 a conract was signed with the Estonian Tallink Grupp for the building of a fast passenger ferry .

The new ferry to be deliveredin spring 2007 from the yard in Helsinki is of a new and innovative design. She will start regular traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn and will be capable to cross the sea between the two cities in 1 hour and 50 minutes. The ice class of the ferry will allow year-around operation.

Besides 1,900 passengers, the 185 m long and 27.7 m wide vessel (NB 1356) of type Tallink Shuttel is designed to carry private cars and freight units by having more than two kilometres of vehicle deck space. The vessel was floated out on 23 November 2006 and named as “Star”.

Aker Yards and the French company Brittany Ferries signed a contract on August 2, 2005 for the building of a trailer ropax for delivery in autumn 2007. The vessel (NB 1357) is designed to carry road cargo vehicles between France and England at a speed of 23 knots. The 165 m long and 26.8 m wide vessel has 2,2 kilometres of vehicle deck space and 120 cabins.

On 19 January 2006 a contract was signed with Brittany Ferries of a new type of ropax for delivery in October 2008.

On 30 November 2005 Aker Yards and Viking Line Abp signed a contract for a fast passenger ferry .

The vessel (NB 1358) intended for the Helsinki-Tallinn route will be 185 m long and 27,7 m wide, taking 2500 passengers. The vessel will reach a speed of 25 knots driven by 40 MW engines.

On 15 December 2005 a contract for two fast passenger dayferries was signed with Color Line.

The “Color Superspeed” (27 knots) vessels to be delivered during 2007-2008 are intended for the Denmark-Norway services. The ca. 211 m long and 26 m wide vessels will each have 2,000 lane metres of vehicle space and take 1,900 passengers. (NBs 1359-60).

our home pages in the internet: www.akeryards.com

or Sinikka Railo, Communications Manager, Aker Yards, Cruise & Ferries

phone: +358 40 5120253, e-mail: sinikka.railo@akeryards.com

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