Luxury French line Ponant has announced plans to build four new 184-passenger expedition ships.
The first of the ships will be delivered in 2018.
The line has signed a letter of intent with Vard, a Norwegian subsidiary of Italy’s Fincantieri shipyard.
The new vessels will be Ice-class rated and will have 92 cabins. They will sail in South America, the Amazon’s Orinoco river, Costa Rice, Papua New Guinea and the Indian Ocean.
The plans mean the line will double its fleet to eight ships by 2019.