By Roberto Franzoni
The fabulous world of cruise-ship building, the numbers, techniques, markets, the splendor and the future glory of marble on board, in the words of a leading ship designer active in the sector for over three decades
Mr. Mortola, who chooses the styles and materials of the ship, you as designer, the client or the ship-builder?
Normally, the owner, with the shipyard, but mostly it depends on the owner, who always wants to maintain his identity of style, color and even the names of the spaces and interiors from one ship to another. We make proposals, but they often change during construction, sometimes radically, and give rise to quite different choices in terms of materials and colors, but still reflecting the overall style of that brand, that fleet, which becomes its identity. The ship is certainly not meant to gratify the designer's ego. It is a product to be sold and has to comply with specific characteristics that all have affinities with the marque. My office, when working on ships, does approximately 60 percent of the design and then we work more as the project manager, also coordinating the work of other designers on behalf
of ship owners.
Has the amount of marble used in shipbuilding increased over time?
Definitely. I started designing in 1979 with a French shipyard, Chantier de la Mediterranée, which no longer exists. We then introduced marble aboard a ship for the first time, and met strong opposition from both the ship owner and the yard! They said marble was a heavy, rigid, non-marine material, essentially unsuited to applications on board. But with time shipbuilding has changed a lot, especially in terms of dimensions and volume. So it's been possible to increase the amount of marble used. And also the techniques of marble fabrication have improved by adapting the techniques and applications that come from civil architecture, with their relative dimensions. In those days the 20-25 millimeters slabs were very heavy and there was a high risk of breakage. With time the thicknesses have been reduced to 10-12 millimeters, the surfaces of the slabs have increased, and the bonding systems become increasingly refined and sophisticated. As a result they're much more widely used. An example was my last project, the refitting of a ship built by Mitsubishi in 2004. At that time the marble laid in the atrium represented 30 percent of the floor surface. In the refit now being carried out in Vancouver, it's the carpeting that has fallen to 20 percent! Thanks to all the new technologies for installation, the subfloor, types of grouting...
Does the grouting also act as a flexible joint?
Yes, but if the grouting becomes too conspicuous, you run the risk of it opening. In this respect, we conducted a research project with Mapei into the most suitable types of sealants for these applications. That was how we reversed the relation between the marble and the carpet. With the advantage that while carpets have to be changed every three or four years, the marble is always there and never has to be changed!
Where do you apply marble mostly?
Above all in the shared areas, like entries, staircases and saloons. But also in the bathrooms of the cabin suites, which are fully lined with marble, both floors and walls. Even the entrances to the suites are lined in marble, as a welcoming touch, to give the passengers a sumptuous reception. Then, to help us comply with U.S. legislation in terms of hygiene, we apply stone materials to the restaurant, kitchens and public food areas in general. Not marble, though, which is more porous, but various kinds of granite, which is closed and tougher.
What percentage of the accommodation on board consists of luxury cabins, suites?
It depends on the brand, the shipping company. Some ship owners have an average market, others medium-high, others - a few - high. In the first case the suites are below 15 percent of the total accommodation on board, in the second it will be between 20 and 25 percent, and in the third case you go right up to all suites. But an all-suite ship only will only have a limited number of cabins, 200 for example. A ship with 1500 cabins and 20 percent of them suites will have 300 luxury cabins. An average line with 1800 cabins and 15 percent of them suites will still have 270 luxury suites. One standard cabin has an area of 18 to 20 square meters. A luxury cabin will be over 30 square meters. The bathroom alone occupies one quarter of the cabin. There's a lot of surface area to be covered! The cabins are all prefabricated in the yard and slotted into the craft one by one. The sanitary blocks, especially if they're faced with marble and heavier, are built as two shells.
When did prefabrication begin in shipbuilding?
Prefabrication, which is one aspect of the industrialization of shipyards, began in Finland at Wärtsilä, where they build ferries. Medium-low quality, maximum use of space, strict deadlines and low prices. When Carnival decided to commission a cruise ship from the Finns at Wärtsilä, to contain costs they applied the same principles as in the construction of ferries. It was 1985. Here in Italy at Fincantieri we started ten years later, with the construction of Grand Princess. By building that ship Fincantieri realized the great advantages of the method and gradually perfected the system.
When did the technique come in of making stone lighter by reinforcing it with backing?
A company in Turin devised lightweight marble, 7 millimeters thick, with aluminum honeycomb backing. It went very well. But there was a problem: the adhesive interacted with the stone and stained it. In addition it was expensive, because they would plane down a sheet 10-12 millimeters thick, which was wasteful of material. Today we no longer work with adhesives, but reinforce the marble with fiberglass and epoxy resin, with thicknesses no less than 10 millimeters, since below that the edges become fragile and the color can leave stains, especially in bathrooms because of the moisture. Then we have to remember that ships are getting steadily bigger. Today no Panama ships are built below 100,000 tons any more. The bigger the ship, the lower the cost per bed. And bigger ships are always more stable. One Panama has a 32-meter beam. Caribbean built a ship with a 52-meter beam. You can install anything aboard a ship like that! Weight loses its importance. Before we used to apply marble slabs measuring 600 millimeters per side at most. Today we happily apply 2000 millimeters slabs, because the stability of the vessel is such that we run no risk of torsion or movement, partly due to the rigidity of the dimensions and the improved anchoring techniques.
How long is the life of a ship, since you're already engaged in refitting a ship built in 2004?
The problem is obviously not the age of the materials, but the importance of marketing. The cruise line has to show it keeps its fleet up to date by modernizing it.
At any rate they have to change some elements to make it more attractive, or simply new features. The same shipping line will have vessels of different ages, but sold at the same price. So refitting, which the owner announces in terms of cost, saying "we spent 50 million dollars!," becomes an attraction for the public even aboard an older ship.
Who are the biggest players in the shipbuilding industry for cruise ships, apart from Fincantieri?
The Finns, the Germans of the Meyer Werft group, and the French of Chantiers de l'Atlantique, which belong to the same corporation as the Finns, STX, which is Korean. Finally, there's Mitsubishi, which is an outsider.
On the other side the clients are the Carnival group, with all its brands, such as Costa, Princess, P&O etc., accounting for 60 percent of the market.
Then there's Caribbean Cruise, followed by Norwegian Cruise Line, and after that a series of small or very small cruise ship owners. And that's it. If these operators decide to slow down the renewal of their fleets, the shipyards will automatically find themselves with an empty order book. In the past the yards invested huge sums to keep pace with the speed of expansion of the fleets. To make a return on these investments they need a steady inflow of orders, which we had until recently. Today, the rate of growth in passengers has slowed to about 8-9 percent, compared with 12 percent in past years, while with the new ships built the supply of beds has outstripped the increase in passengers. Many passengers return, but since it is a market for older people there are also a lot of people dropping out of the market.
Where can the cruise market expand?
In the United States only an infinitesimal part of the leisure market is open to cruises. Then there's the whole wide world of the Far East, which has yet to discover this leisure activity. It's a continent that faces onto seas where there are magnificent unexplored places. For this reason the ships, in all probability, will have to be different from what they are now, in terms of cabins, decor and entertainment. And there will certainly always be more demand for marble, given what we know about tastes in the Orient.
|
|
