2011-01-04 KONE wins order for two Norwegian Cruise Line ships

KONE has signed a major contract for cruise ships with the German shipyard Meyer Werft GmbH. The contract concerns the supply of all elevators and escalators for two luxury cruise ships to be built for Norwegian Cruise Line. The ships, which will carry over 4,000 passengers each, will be built at the Meyer Werft’s shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. The two ships will be delivered in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The contract also includes options for delivery of equipment for two additional identical ships.

KONE will design, supply and install altogether 60 custom-designed elevators and four escalators tailored for passenger and service use. The technology is based on the energy-efficient KONE MonoSpace® and KONE MiniSpace™ solutions.

“We are very pleased to extend our well established cooperation with Meyer Werft GmbH. This is an excellent example that a first-rate product offering and good customer service continuously increases customer loyalty,” says Heikki Leppänen, EVP, New Equipment Business, KONE. “With this collaboration, we continue our long-term commitment to the marine industry and strengthen our market leader position as the elevator and escalator provider for the cruise ship segment.”

Norwegian Cruise Line is one of three major global cruise vacation companies, and the new series of ships will continue NCL's tradition of “Freestyle Cruising”. The new ships will be of the 143,500 gross tons Post-Panama size.

The Papenburg-based Meyer Werft GmbH, founded in 1795, has been owned by six generations of the Meyer family. Today, Meyer Werft is one of the leading shipyards in the cruise ship building segment and has developed one of the most modern production premises in the shipbuilding industry.

The order was booked in Q4 of 2010.

For further information, please contact:

Anne Korkiakoski, EVP, Marketing & Communications, KONE Corporation, tel. +358 204 75 4775.

About KONE

KONE is one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry. The company has been committed to understanding the needs of its customers for the past century, providing industry-leading elevators, escalators and automatic building doors as well as innovative solutions for modernization and maintenance. The company's objective is to offer the best People Flow experience by developing and delivering solutions that enable people to move smoothly, safely, comfortably and without waiting in buildings in an increasingly urbanizing environment. In 2009, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 4.7 billion and approximately 34,000 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd in Finland.