The newest Carnival cruise ship and the first in the fleet to be powered by Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) has refueled for the very first time at Port Canaveral. It’s a huge milestone as the cruise industry heads towards more environmentally cruise ships. This follows Mardi Gras’ first arrival at the port last week.
Mardi Gras Refueled with LNG
The first LNG-powered Carnival cruise ship has refueled for the very first time in Port Canaveral. It’s also the first LNG cruise ship in North America, marking a major milestone for the cruise line and the entire cruise industry.
The process to refuel the vessel took almost eight hours via the new articulated tug and barge (ATB), named Q4K for short at Terminal 3. The barge can deliver enough LNG to power the large 180,000 gross tons ship for 14 days. The barge can also refuel two ships for seven-day voyages if needed.
Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line said, “Today was another milestone in what promises to be many ‘firsts’ for Mardi Gras. Many thanks to our partners at Shell and Port Canaveral for their role in bringing LNG to the Americas.”
LNG is not just the source of power for the propulsion systems, the fuel provides energy for onboard systems including elevators, computers, equipment in the galley, and even the first roller coaster at sea which is named BOLT.
The fuel is among the cleanest in the world and significantly reduces emissions, a major goal of cruise lines. Cruise lines have been under pressure due to pollution, and many new cruise ships are now starting to take on the new LNG fuel. Mardi Gras’ sister ship Carnival Celebration will also be powered by LNG when she arrives in November 2022.
Mardi Gras has been all the talk recently since her arrival to the U.S. for the very first time. She was met by thousands of fans on June 4 as the large ship entered the Florida port. Since then, even more cruise fans have been heading down to the port to get a glimpse of the hottest new cruise ship around. Mardi Gras will be departing Port Canaveral due to grey water waste but will make a return once again.
The ship will eventually begin cruises later in the year out of the port with cruises to the Caribbean. She’s just over 180,000 gross tons and has a guest capacity of 5,282 at double occupancy, along with 1,735 crew members. The cruise line will be spending time bringing on more crew to full capacity and training on new procedures for the new-class ship.
