Compagnie du Ponant is a French cruise line

Cruise line

A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships. Cruise lines have a dual character; they are partly in the transportation business, and partly in the leisure entertainment business, a duality that carries down into the ships themselves, which have both a crew headed by the ship's captain,...

 company. It launched the first French cruise ship. It was founded in April 1988 by Philippe Videau and Jean-Emmanuel Saved, and other officers of the French Merchant Navy

Merchant Navy

The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...

. Initially based in Nantes

Nantes

Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....

, since 2006 the headquarters of this company has been Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

 following its acquisition by CMA CGM

CMA CGM

CMA CGM S.A. is a French container transportation and shipping company, headed by Jacques Saadé. It is the third largest container company in the world, using 200 shipping routes between 400 ports in 150 different countries...

.

Fleet

The company operates five ships:

• Le Ponant
  Le Ponant
  Le Ponant is a three-masted, commercially operated French luxury yacht owned by CMA CGM and operated under their Compagnie du Ponant brand. The ship carries up to 67 passengers in 32 cabins...
  
  : barque
  Barque
  A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
  
   built in 1991, 32 cabins for 64 passengers and 32 crew members
• Le Levant: yacht
  Yacht
  A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
  
   built in 1998, 45 cabins for 90 passengers and 55 crew members - Sold to Paul Gauguin Cruises
  Paul Gauguin Cruises
  Paul Gauguin Cruises is a cruise line owned by Beachcomber Croisieres Limited with headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. Paul Gauguin Cruises operates the award-winning luxury cruise ship, the Paul Gauguin, providing a luxury cruise experience to Tahiti, French Polynesia and the South...
  
   to become Moana to be delievered in 2012
• Le Diamant
  Le Diamant (cruise ship)
  Le Diamant is a small cruise ship operated by Compagnie du Ponant, of France. She was previously named Song of Flower, and Explorer Starship....
  
  , formerly the Song of Flower (1974): luxury liner bought in 2004, 113 cabins for 226 passengers and 120 crew
• Le Boréal
  Le Boréal
  Le Boréal is a cruise ship operated by the French cruise line company Compagnie du Ponant. Built in 2010, she is a sister vessel of L'Austral , with 132 cabins and suites for 264 passengers and 140 crew members. Le Boréal was put into service on May 6, 2010...
  
  : the first ship of a series of two for Compagnie du Ponant, built in 2010, 132 cabins and suites for 264 passengers and 140 crew members. The Le Boréal won the award for "Best Newcomer of the Year - GOLD from the European Cruiser Association (EUCRAS).
• L'Austral
  L'Austral
  L'Austral is a cruise ship operated by the French cruise line company Compagnie du Ponant. She is their latest flagship and sister vessel of Le Boréal, built in 2011, with 132 cabins and suites for 264 passengers and 140 crew members. L'Austral was put into service on April 20, 2011.-External...
  
  : the latest flagship and sister vessel of Le Boréal, built in 2011, 132 cabins and suites for 264 passengers and 140 crew members. L'Austral was put into service on April 20th 2011.
• On 26 September 2011, Compagnie du Ponant announced an order for a third ship of the Le Boréal class from Fincantieri
  Fincantieri
  Fincantieri - Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A. is a shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. It was formed in 1959 and is the largest shipbuilder in the Mediterranean, and one of the largest in Europe...
  
  , expected to enter service in June 2013.

Destinations

Compagnie du Ponant Cruises offers all-season cruises, in places inaccessible to larger cruise liners

• Northern Europe and Greenland, Scandinavia, Baltic and Iceland
• Adriatic and Mediterranean: Corsica, Italy, Croatia , Aegean and Black Sea
• Iberian Peninsula
  Iberian Peninsula
  The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
  
  
• Red Sea
  Red Sea
  The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
  
   and Persian Gulf
  Persian Gulf
  The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
  
  
• Indian Ocean: Maldives
  Maldives
  The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
  
  
• Asia
• South and Central America
• Antarctica

External links

Site officiel de la Compagnie du Ponant Compagny du Ponant Website