Yesterday at the Chinese shipyard Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) the technical launch of GNV Orion, the second of four newly built Ro-Pax units to the shipping company GNV of the MSC group. GNV Orion will have a gross tonnage of about 52,000 tons, a length of 218 metres, a width of 29.60 metres and will be able to reach a maximum speed of 25 knots. The ship will have of 433 cabins and will have a capacity of 1,785 passengers and 3,100 linear metres of rolling stock.

After the takeover of the first of the four ships, the GNV Polaris, which is expected to join the fleet by by the end of 2024, GNV Orion will be delivered to the owner in the summer of 2025; Two more units will follow in the first and second half of 2026, respectively.

Like the other three newly built units, GNV Orion is already equipped with all the predispositions for cold ironing, i.e. the connection via a socket to the electricity mains on the quayside, which allows an important emission reductions as well as an improvement in the air and noise quality at local level. In addition, all The new ships will be equipped with gas cleaning systems Exhaust (EGCS), Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) and heat recycling to meet IMO Tier III requirements and EEDI Phase II.