The keel has been laid for the first in a new generation of LNG cruise ships for Carnival Corporation cruise brands.
The keel being laid is the first block out of many as construction officially begins not just on the first ship of its kind but also the largest ever for the company. The keel laying marks a major construction milestone and a ceremony was held with cruise line and shipyard executives at Seatrade Europe in Hamburg.
Arnold Donald, Carnival Corporation President & CEO, said:
“Today marked a significant milestone in the construction of this next-generation of Carnival Corporation ships featuring our ‘green cruising’ design, which will be the most environmentally friendly ships in our company’s history.”
“We are committed to continuing to reduce air emissions and improving air quality by evaluating both new and established solutions, including LNG. We are proud to be on the forefront of advancing LNG as a fuel source for the cruise industry, and we appreciate our long-standing partnership with Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku. We look forward to the delivery of these beautiful and innovative ships that will help us meet our top goal – to provide extraordinary vacation experiences for our guests that exceed all of their expectations.”
The first ship in this new generation will be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and marks a new era for cruise ships for Carnival. this actual ship will be built for German-based Aida Cruises and named Aidanova.
Over the coming months, each large block will be lowered into place as the ship project will start to actually look like a cruise ship at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. The large vessel will finally be completed and delivered to the cruise line in fall 2018.
Following the introduction of AIDAnova in 2018, Carnival Corporation’s Costa Cruises brand will debut the industry’s next cruise ship that can be powered completely by LNG on the open seas in 2019 – the first steel-cutting ceremony for this ship is scheduled at the Meyer Turku shipyard in the coming week. LNG-powered ships for Carnival Cruise Line and P&O Cruises (UK) will follow in 2020. Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises will each receive an additional LNG-powered ship in 2021, followed by an additional LNG-powered ship for Carnival Cruise Line in 2022.
This new class LNG ship will be 180,000 gross tons and be able to carry 6,600 passengers making it the largest passengers capacity cruise ship in the world.
