The next Pinnacle Class ship for Holland America Line will be named ms Nieuw Statendam, the Seattle based cruise company announced Friday.

The ship will be the second in the Pinnacle Class for Holland America Line. The first Pinnacle Class ship, the Koningsdam, was christened today. Like the Koningsdam, the Nieuw Statendam will carry 2,650 passengers and have a gross tonnage just under 100,000 GRT. The ship will be built by the Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, and the keel for the new ship is slated to be laid a the company’s Marghera shipyard (near Venice) this summer. Hospitality designer Adam D. Tihany, who designed the public spaces onboard Koningsdam, will again be tapped for design work on the new ship.

“Holland America Line is writing the next chapter in our evolving story, yet we are a company with a deep history, and the name ms Nieuw Statendam perfectly blends our past, present and future,” said Orlando Ashford, Holland America Line’s president. “The previous Statendam ships have been among the most beloved in our history, and we eagerly anticipate sharing this beautiful new ship with our guests in 2018.”

Statendam is a name that carries significant historical value to Holland America Line, which operated as a Dutch passenger shipping company until 1989 when it was purchased by Carnival corp and refashioned into the Seattle-based cruise company that operates today. Nieuw Statendam will be the sixth ship to carry the name. The practice of recycling ship names is common throughout the industry, although it’s likely that the “Nieuw” designation was put in use in this instance because the most recent incarnation of the ms Statendam left the fleet last year and it was necessary for differences identification. The previous Statendam was in Holland America service for over twenty years, from 1993 to 2015. The first Statendam was launched in 1898.

Unlike the previous Vista Class, which named four ships for the points of the compass (Noordam, Oosterdam, Westerdam, Zuiderdam), the Pinnacle Class does not appear to follow a specific naming convention for its family of cruise vessels.

Holland America Line has a current active fleet of 14 ships. The Niew Statendam is scheduled for delivery in November 2018.

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