Carnival Corporation & plc has signed a shipbuilding contract for a third next-generation cruise ship for its Germany-based AIDA Cruises brand.
Scheduled for delivery in 2023, the new 180,000-ton ship, being built by German shipbuilder Meyer Werft GmbH at its shipyard in Papenburg, will feature Carnival’s “green cruising” design. The ship will also be fully powered at sea and in port by liquefied natural gas (LNG).
With today’s announcement, AIDA Cruises now has a total of three LNG ships on order.
AIDAnova is scheduled to join AIDA Cruises’ fleet in December as the first ship to feature LNG as fuel, and the first cruise ship in the world to be fully powered by LNG. The second ship of the series will be christened in the spring of 2021.
The three LNG ships for AIDA Cruises are part of Carnival Corporation’s ongoing fleet enhancement strategy with 20 new ships scheduled for delivery between 2018 and 2023.
“The interest in AIDAnova, the first ship of our new generation, is enormous, even before the commissioning later this year. With today’s new shipbuilding contract, we will ensure the further growth of the cruise market in the long term and will be able to provide excellent cruises for this steadily growing holiday segment in the future as well,” Felix Eichhorn, president of AIDA Cruises , said.
“This is the 10th AIDA Cruises ship we are building in Papenburg, emphasizing a long-term partnership between AIDA Cruises and Meyer Werft. AIDAnova and the following two sister ships feature the latest technology focused on sustainability and energy efficiency,” Tim Meyer, managing director of Meyer Werft, said.
In total, Carnival Corporation has agreements in place with German and Finnish shipbuilders Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku to build nine LNG-powered cruise ships across four of its nine global cruise brands with delivery dates between 2018 and 2023.
These include three ships for AIDA Cruises, two for Costa Cruises with expected delivery dates in 2019 and 2021, two for P&O Cruises UK with expected delivery dates in 2020 and 2022 and two for Carnival Cruise Line with expected delivery dates in 2020 and 2022.