Norwegian shipbuilding group VARD has signed a Letter of Intent for the design and building of two expedition cruise ships, its second such deal in as many months as the corporate seems to be past the offshore oil and fuel market to remain afloat.

The LOI was signed with an undisclosed worldwide cruise firm with supply scheduled from Vard Langsten in Norway in Q1 2019 and Q1 2020. The vessels will likely be designed in shut cooperation with the shopper by Vard Design in Ålesund, Norway, and the hulls will likely be constructed by VARD’s shipyard in Tulcea, Romania.

VARD says the vessels will likely be specifically designed for a excessive customary of services, ice-class and the best calls for for environmentally pleasant and protected operations. The ships will likely be roughly 14,500 gross tons, about 137 meters lengthy by 22 meters broad, with lodging for 240 passengers in 120 cabins.

“Our objective is to develop unique and tailor-made vessels to meet the needs of our customer to further develop their role in the expedition cruise market, and we are honored to sign a Letter of Intent for this exciting project,” commented CEO and Executive Director, Roy Reite. “We look forward to continue our diversification strategy together with our new customers.”

A finalized contract is predicted to be signed in Q3 2016.

The LOI introduced Friday follows an LOI signed in March to construct 4 expedition cruise ships for French cruise firm Ponant.

With the downturn within the offshore trade, VARD has focussed its efforts on increasing to different markets with the intention to land new contracts. So far this yr, this has included the expedition cruise market and aquaculture. On Thursday, the corporate introduced that it has secured $300 million order with Topaz Energy and Marine to design and construct 15 module carriers to serve oil fields in Kazakhstan, once more not precisely the standard offshore vessels that it’s accustomed to constructing.