Carnival’s Italian brand Costa Cruises has taken delivery of its second LNG-powered cruise ship Costa Toscana at Finnish shipyard Meyer Turku.
The 185,000 GT cruise ship successfully passed seas trials in October this year to verify the proper functioning of systems, equipment, and LNG engines. The company also held the coin ceremony the same month.
Costa Toscana is a sister ship to Costa Smeralda which was handed over to the cruise company in 2019. The construction of the vessel began in summer 2019.
The ship is powered by LNG and has been designed with a circular economy concept.
As explained, the use of LNG will eliminate all sulfur dioxide emissions and almost all particular matter emissions (95-100% reduction), while also significantly lowering emissions of nitrogen oxides (direct reduction of 85%) and CO2 (up to 20%).
The ship also has an intelligent energy efficiency system, and 100% of the ship’s recycling materials (such as plastic, paper, glass and aluminum) will be carried out of the ship and recycled.
The Costa Group – which includes the Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises brands – was the first in the world to pioneer liquefied natural gas on cruise ships. Its LNG-powered ships include AIDAnova and Costa Smeralda, already in service; Costa Toscana, delivered today; and AIDACosma, coming soon.
“Costa Toscana reinforces our commitment to sustainable innovation by further contributing to the use of LNG applied to cruise ships, a technology that we pioneered. It is an innovation that is part of a constantly evolving path of ecological transition. Indeed, we are also working on testing further innovations, such as fuel cells and batteries, with the aim of eventually achieving the first cruise ship with net zero emissions,” said Mario Zanetti , President of Costa Cruises.
Costa Toscana’s first cruise will depart from Savona, Italy, in March 2022, the company revealed.