The parent company of Costa Cruises and Aida Cruises has signed an agreement to prove Shell fuel to the LNG new generation cruise ships coming in 2019.
As part of the agreement, these two ships, built with Carnival Corporation’s next-generation “green cruising” ship design, will utilize Shell’s infrastructure in cruise ports to refuel with LNG throughout their itineraries. The vessels, equipped with dual-fuel engines, are the first of a new generation of cruise ships fully powered by LNG both while in port and at sea — an industry first and an environmental breakthrough that will improve air quality with cleaner emissions and produce the most efficient ships in company history.
Tom Strang, senior vice president of maritime affairs for Carnival Corporation said:
“We are committed to reducing our air emissions and improving air quality by evaluating new and established solutions such as LNG — an especially promising option because of its environmental and other benefits.”
“We are proud to be on the forefront of advancing LNG as a fuel source for the cruise industry and creating an entirely new model for powering next-generation cruise ships. We look forward to a productive partnership with Shell, which has the experience and shared commitment to quality, safety and operational efficiency needed to help us bring this innovative LNG initiative to life with the first fully LNG-powered ships in the global cruise industry.”
Today’s announcement was made on the heels of the company’s order in September of three additional next-generation cruise ships that will be fully powered by LNG, bringing its fully LNG-powered ship orders total to seven across four of its 10 global cruise lines. Two of the new LNG-powered ships are designated for the world’s most popular cruise brand, Carnival Cruise Line, with delivery dates expected in 2020 and 2022, and one is designated for P&O Cruises UK with an expected delivery date in 2020. The remaining two vessels will also be built for the Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises brands and are expected to enter service in 2021.
Lauran Wetemans, Shell’s General Manager Downstream LNG said:
“We have been working closely with Carnival to get to this point in our commercial partnership.”
“Working together from an early stage is critical in helping the transition to cleaner LNG cruising. This is a unique partnership that will contribute to a robust and reliable LNG fuel supply chain, along with opportunities for future growth.”
The ships which are part of today’s announcements includes two new 180,000 gross tons ships which will carry 6,600 passengers. The first ship will enter service for Costa Cruises in 2019 and then the second for German based Aida cruises also in 2019.
