Vard Holdings confirmed that it has contracts in place for building four luxury expedition cruise vessels for French operator Ponant.

The contracts, first announced in March, were subject to conditions including satisfactory financing. Vard said that all the conditions have now been met.

The ice-class expedition cruise vessels will be approximately 10,000-gt, about 131 metres long (429 feet), 18 metres wide and will have a cruise speed of 15 knots.