Sam Seward, speaking exclusively to TTG, confirmed the new ship will carry no more than 200 passengers and won’t start sailing until 2028 or 2029.

He said: "We’re definitely in the market. We’re having live conversations with both shipyards and lines with ships. It’s early days, though. 

"We’re in the initial process of meeting various partners and getting proposals. We want more ships carrying under 200 guests."

Explaining why Quark wanted to expand its three-ship fleet, Seward said: "It’s really reacting to the brilliant underlying growth in the Antarctic. We’re also seeing great demand for Greenland and our Canadian Northwest Passage stuff as well." 

Seward confirmed if Quark builds a new ship it would operate year-round sailings but if it were to charter a vessel it would only "do certain itineraries" at specific times of the year.

The line’s fleet currently consists of the 136-passenger Ocean Explorer, the 199-passenger Ultramarine, 172-passenger World Explorer which is being replaced by the 168-passenger World Voyager. 

Seward ruled out adding a new ship that could carry more than 200 passengers, saying: "We’ve seen a bit of volume from the larger vessels leave the Norwegian archipelago, and there’s a reduction in some of the big ships doing itineraries there, which I think is good."

"There’s a huge difference in small ship cruising, in terms of your ability to get off the vessel, enjoy landings and Zodiac cruises, than being on a 400-passenger to 800-passenger vessel, where you might be lucky to get off the ship once a day, if that." 

Seward added the agents are now wiser to the different expedition cruise products available in the market. "I think agents are now starting to understand that when they’re advising customers, the number of zodiacs on a vessel, the age of a vessel, and the adventure options available on a vessel are going to have a huge impact on their customer’s level of enjoyment," Seward continued. 

"Quark has all the ’toys’ on our ships which give people huge opportunities to get off the ship. I don’t want to be stood at a railing when there are fellow guests in the next fjord in a Zodiac, having a really intimate experience with a humpback [whale] and then hearing about it later at dinner. That’s not what I want. I want to be there." 

Asked about the impact of the new Svalbard rules which were introduced earlier this year to protect wildlife in the fragile Arctic region, Seward said: "We weren’t too worried about the new rules. I’m generally a big supporter of any conservation-led regulation.

"I think anything that holds the industry to a consistent level of accountability is good. People are drawn to Svalbard because of the polar bear viewing, and what we’ve seen in practice actually is the rule changes haven’t had any negative impact on the guest experience."

Seward insisted Quark remains "committed" to the "rapidly" evolving regulation and conversation environment.