FINCANTIERI TO PLAY LEADING ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE CRUISE INDUSTRY

Historic agreements reached with Carnival Corporation and China State Shipbuilding Corporation

Trieste, 21 November 2014 – Fincantieri, the world leader in the construction of cruise ships, has signed two memorandums of understanding, respectively with Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise line, and with China CSSC Holdings Limited, controlled by CSSC (China State Shipbuilding Corporation), China’s largest shipbuilding conglomerate, which operates in different sectors.

These historic agreements aim to explore the possibility of joint ventures in cruise shipbuilding for the Chinese market. This would be an unprecedented, three-way collaborative effort to build the first-ever cruise ships to be made in China.

More particularly, Fincantieri would work with CSSC to develop cruise ships production capacity in China. Indeed, based on its experience as one of the world’s largest shipyards, Fincantieri would provide specialized services and components to support CSSC’s shipyards. On its part, Carnival would work closely with CSSC and Fincantieri and contribute its expertise to create the vision, definition, and specifications for the China-built cruise ships.

The Chinese Ministry of Transport (MOT) projects China to be the second largest global cruise market after the U.S. in the next several years based on economic growth, increased spending power of Chinese consumers and growing demand for cruise vacations. China could see 4.5 million cruise passengers by 2020, according to the MOT, and is expected to eventually become the world’s largest cruise market. Potential partnerships like the ones being explored between Fincantieri, Carnival and CSSC are aimed at supporting the MOT's pro-growth cruise policies and the rise of overall tourism in China.

“Building on our groundbreaking MOU signed with CSSC last month, this new agreement with Fincantieri gives us the opportunity to work with our longtime partner to further explore a formal joint venture that could forever change the landscape of shipbuilding in China” said Arnold

Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation. “After working diligently to get a deep understanding of China’s aggressive cruise ambitions, we’re collaborating with two of the world’s top shipbuilders in Fincantieri and CSSC to establish a framework for a world-class Chinese shipbuilding venture designed to help accelerate growth and demand for cruising in China in the years to come”.

Fincantieri’s CEO, Giuseppe Bono, said: “This agreement with Carnival, to which we are bound by a consolidated partnership, and with CSSC testifies our determination in pursuing a strategy that increasingly establishes Fincantieri as a global and reference player in the sector, with strong presence in all the markets that can ensure a future in our business. Indeed, new international scenarios are emerging, and with them new challenges arise in addition to existing ones and we are glad to contribute together with Carnival to develop the cruise shipbuilding capacity in China for the Chinese market. For this reason, our commitment must be ever-stronger in order to enable us to take advantage of such opportunities and continue to be an example of Italian style in the world”.

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Fincantieri is one of the world's largest shipbuilding groups, which in over 200 years of maritime history has built more than 7,000 vessels. It is world leader in cruise ship construction and a reference player in other sectors, from naval vessels to cruise ferries, from mega-yachts to special high value-added vessels, ship repairs and conversions and offshore vessels. Headquartered in Trieste, the Group has more than 20,000 employees, of whom 7,700 in Italy, and 21 shipyards in 4 continents. In 2013 the Group acquired VARD, a company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange that builds offshore support vessels for oil and gas extraction and production. Fincantieri has doubled in size to become the main occidental shipbuilder and the first one by diversification and presence in every high value-added sectors. Fincantieri operates in the United States through its subsidiary Fincantieri Marine Group (FMG). This company, which serves important government customers, including the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, has three shipyards (Marinette Marine, Bay Shipbuilding, Ace Marine), all located in the Great Lakes region. Fincantieri is present in the UAE with Etihad Ship Building, a joint venture set up with Melara Middle East and Al Fattan Ship Industries, to design, produce and sell different types of civilian and military ships as well as perform maintenance and refitting activities.

About Carnival Corporation Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise company in the world, with a portfolio of cruise brands in North America, , Australia and Asia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, , , Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, , Cunard, Ibero Cruises, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK). Together, these brands operate 101 ships totaling 212,000 lower berths with eight new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2014 and 2017. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock

Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices.

China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), established in 1999, is an extralarge conglomerate and state- authorized investment institution directly administered by the central government of China. It boasts its being the mainstay of the shipbuilding industry in China. Under its wing, there are totally 60 sole proprietorship enterprises and shareholding institutions, including a batch of most powerful and some renowned shipbuilding and shiprepairing yards, research and design institutes, marine-related equipment manufacturers and trading firms in China.

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