Finland-based ferry company Viking Line inked a conditional shipbuilding contract with China's Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry for a new passenger cruise ship, with an option for an additional vessel.

A final agreement is subject to the approval of the Board of Directors of both the buyer and the seller, as well as financial arrangements entered.

The total contract amount is about EUR194m (US$207m). If the agreement is approved, the first cruise ship will be delivered in 2020 and will be employed on the Turku (Finland)–Åland Islands–Stockholm (Sweden) route.

The new vessel will be a collaborative project, and the plan is to engage several Finnish and other European suppliers, according to Viking Line.

The vessel will be 218 metres in length and have a gross registered tonnage of about 63,000 tonnes.

Passenger capacity will be 2,800 people, and the length of its cargo lanes will be 1,500 metres.