During the keel-laying ceremony for the third Oasis-class ship at STX in St. Nazaire, France, Royal Caribbean announced that a fourth Oasis-class ship is planned. The keel laying, during which a 1,000-ton block was lifted by crane into the building dock, marks the beginning of the physical construction of Oasis III.

Royal Caribbean layed the keel for it third Oasis-class cruise ship by placing a 1,000 ton block into position.  

Photo by Royal Caribbean

In addition to keel-laying, the coin ceremony was held at STX France shipyard.  

The keel-laying marks the official beginning of a ship's construction.  The third Oasis-class ship is scheduled to be completed in 2016.

Photo by Lyan Sierra-Caro

Also during the ceremony, Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain announced the company would build a fourth Oasis-class cruise ship that will be ready by 2018.

We have our first images of Royal Caribbean's third Oasis class ship, which is being built at STX Europe.

The images are 3D renders and since they are the sister ships Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, look identical to those ships. 

Royal Caribbean has confirmed the ship's order of construction back in December 2012 but no other details about the ship exist, including a name.

The third in the Oasis class will be ready for delivery to Royal Caribbean in mid-2016.

Royal Caribbean has released a video showing off the beginning of construction of its third Oasis-class cruise ship. When complete, it will be the largest cruise ship in the world.

The new ship will be complete in 2016.

Royal Caribbean's next three cruise ships, Quantum of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas and a yet-to-be-named third Oasis class ship, will utilize processing technology supplier Metso DNA for its integrated alarm, monitoring and control systems.

Metso is being contracted by the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany, where the ships are being constructed.  Each ship will recieve integrated alarm, monitoring and control systems that are capable of producing 18,000 input/outputs in the machinery, air conditioning and emergency shutdown systems. The diesel electric power plant will also be managed by the system.

Previously Metso had provided the automation system components for Royal Caribbean's Radiance class of ships.

STX France is making preperations to begin construction on Royal Caribbean's third Oasis-class cruise ship by first building a frame to help build the massive ship.  In order to accomodate the massive ship, STX France is constructing a new portico, which started arriving this week.  Formal construction on the portico will begin starting next month. 

Once the portico is complete, STX France expects the shipyard to begin construction of the new Oasis-class ship in the first quarter of 2014.

The new STX France portico, ordered specifically for the new Oasis class ship but will be used for other future builds, just arrived in Saint-Nazaire from China in the last few days.  It weighs 160 tonnes and measures 44 by 10 meters.

The old portico was built in 1968 and was one of the oldest in the world.

Royal Caribbean's third Oasis-class ship will be built at STX France shipyard and today ArcelorMittal has been selected to provide 100% of the steel for the hull and 20 bridges in the new ship.

The agreement will supply more than 40,000 tonnes of plates and coils from ArcelorMittal's European sites.

The coils will be produced at Fos-sur-Mer, France and will then be processed into sheets by ArcelorMittal's St Nazaire Distribution Solutions unit.  Afterwards, the coils will then be delivered to STX France.

The plates are being produced by ArcelorMittal Gijon, Spain and shipped to STX France.

Deliveries will commence in September 2013, when construction of the hull will begin.

Hervé Bourrier, CEO, ArcelorMittal France said: "This contract demonstrates our ability to deliver high quality steels and tailored services from our European industrial and sales units, and confirms our long-term presence as a steel supplier to the cruise ship market, one that has seen consistent growth over the last five years."

The ship, which will have around 2,700 cabins, will be delivered in 2016 to Royal Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean has come to an agreement to get an unsecured loan for up to €892 million to finance its third Oasis-class cruise ship. COFACE, the export credit agency of France, will guarantee 100% of the financing, according to a filing.

As soon as the loan is funded, it will amortize semi-annually and will mature 12 years as soon as STX France shipyard delivers the new ship, which is currently scheduled for the second quarter of 2016.

Interest on the loan is expected to accrue at a fixed rate of 2.6%, including the applicable margin, or at a floating rate equal to EURIBOR plus 1.15%.

Société Générale is serving as facility agent and mandated lead arranger, BNP Paribas as documentation bank and mandated lead arranger, and HSBC France as mandated lead arranger.

In an interview with Royal Caribbean Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific Gavin Smith, the topic of Royal Caribbean's new Oasis-class cruise ship that is on order for a few years from now.

While Smith was not able to go into any great detail about the third Oasis class cruise ship, he did give us an idea of what to expect.

"It could be expected that the DNA of the earlier Oasis Class ships will be protected, and a host of new and innovative amenities will be added to further enhance guest experience."

Construction of the new ship will begin in September 2013 at the STX France shipyards. The third Oasis class ship is expected to be delivered to Royal Caribbean sometime in 2016.

Royal Caribbean ordered a third (and possibly fourth) Oasis-class cruise ship earlier this week and already many of our readers are wondering about what the new ship's name will be.  Perhaps recent trademark filings by Royal Caribbean will give us a clue.

Back on Friday, November 2, 2012, Royal Caribbean applied for trademarks for the following ship names.  Could one of these be the next name for the new third Oasis-class ship?

• Anthem of the Seas
• Ovation of the Seas
• Passion of the Seas
• Pulse of the Seas
• Quantum of the Seas
• Vantage of the Seas

For Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, Royal Caribbean held contests to name the ship.  It is not known if Royal Caribbean will use one of these six names or hold another contest to name the ship.