Finland's Aker Finnyards has signed a newbuilding contract with Northlink, the Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) and Royal Bank of Scotland joint venture for to build two ropax vessels, and signed a letter of intent for a third slightly smaller ship.

The two firm 12,000-gt newbuildings, due for delivery in mid 2002, will have capacity for 600 passengers, plus cars and freight and are priced at around $102m.