Each member of the class has been allocated the name of a famous French explorer, and Le Bellot is named after Joseph René Bellot, a French naval officer and Arctic explorer.

[1][2][3] Ponant's order for Le Bellot and a sister ship, the sixth of the class, was announced in March 2018.

[4] The hull of each ship was constructed by VARD in the builder's Tulcea yard in Romania; the steel cutting ceremony for both ships took place on 4 April 2018.

[2] Upon completion, the hulls were transferred to the builder's Søviknes facility in Ålesund, Norway, for final outfitting.

[2] Le Bellot was delivered to Ponant in March 2020.