CRIST – a strong position on the French and Scandinavian market

Marek Grzybowski :  An exclusive interview for eBlue Economy

On 02/10/2022 a ceremonial meeting was held in Saint Nazaire to celebrate the 5-year cooperation of CRIST with Chantiers de l’Atlantique. Among the invited guests was Mr. Tomasz Młynarski – the Polish Ambassador in France, who was the patron of the event. During the jubilee, a contract was also signed for another mega floating block, on which CRIST will start work soon. It is the 9th contract signed with the French shipyard. CRIST representatives also had the opportunity to visit the cruise ship for which CRIST built the L34 mega floating block and which was handed over to the customer in October 2020.

New vessels, two double-ended ferries for CRIST long–term Scandinavian clients have got battery hybrid propulsion system which is an evolution and upgraded system which was firstly introduced on vessel delivered by us in 2017 “Elektra”, as a first in EU battery-powered ferry.

An exclusive interview for Blue Economy with Krzysztof Kulczycki, President of the Supervisory Board, CRIST

Marek Grzybowski : CRIST S.A. Shipyard is the laureate of the Exporter of the Year to France competition.  Can you tell more about cooperation with the French market and the production of structures for passenger ships for other Crist contractors?

Krzysztof Kulczycki: Our close cooperation with the French market has got a very long history. Our partner we are cooperating with the longest (still up to today) is shipyard Piriou. Our most famous project for the French market was Zourite – a jack-up vessel for an offshore viaduct on La Reunion island, but our biggest partner currently is St. Nazaire shipyard Chantiers de l’Atlantique.

We are building for them so-called plug-in, floating blocks, fully equipped, ready for integration with the rest of the vessel. The floating blocs are over 170 meters long, 47 meters wide, and well over 10.000 tons of hull steel. Such close cooperation between our yards started in 2017 and so far we have delivered to them 6 such blocks, we have three under construction with prospects for cooperation at least up to 2025.

It is worthy to emphasize that by providing one of such blocks, we have been part of the biggest cruise vessel ever, “Wonder of the Seas” for almost 7.000 passengers and 2300 crew.

Marek Grzybowski: CRIST is an active shipyard in the field of shipbuilding, steel construction, and ship repairs. What production dominates in 2021?

Krzysztof Kulczycki: despite some real fears that COVID 19 would hit the cruise market, apparently, this sector still remains strong and our biggest volume for the last year was delivered for the cruise and passenger market, besides some other special-purpose projects.

Marek Grzybowski: Demand for zero-emission ships is growing. Crist is the coordinator of the HUB for the production of zero-emission ships. You are building electric ferries that will be operational in 2022. Please give more information about the electric ships built by Crist.

Krzysztof Kulczycki: zero-emission and „green vessel” is not a curiosity anymore is a must in today’s industry. We are involved in many discussions regarding a variety of vessel propulsion from well-recognized battery-powered to hydrogen and in my opinion most prospective methanol solutions.

At the moment we have under construction two double-ended ferries for our long–term Scandinavian client. Both vessels have got a battery hybrid propulsion system which is an evolution and upgraded system which was firstly introduced on vessel delivered by us in 2017 “Elektra”, as a first in EU battery-powered ferry.