Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest leisure travel company, held on Wednesday a virtual keel laying ceremony during an event in Hamburg for the first of a total of seven cruise ships that will be fully powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The seven new ships for four Carnival Corporation’s global brands – Carnival Cruise Line, P&O Cruises UK, Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises – will feature a “green cruising” design and are claimed to be the first in the world to operate entirely on LNG.
The cruise ships with delivery between 2018 and 2022 will be built by the German and Finnish shipbuilders Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku.
German shipbuilder Meyer Werft on Wednesday lowered first building block into place for the first LNG-powered vessel named AIDAnova, which will join company’s AIDA Cruises brand in fall 2018.
AIDAnova will be equipped with four dual-fuel engines, sailing on trips around the Canary islands.
Following the introduction of AIDAnova in 2018, Carnival’s Costa Cruises brand will debut the next cruise ship 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.