Carnival Corporation has announced that it has begun building the first of its seven next-generation cruise ships that will be fully powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).The ships are expected to be delivered between 2018 and 2022.
Designed to be a low-carbon fuel ship, they will be the first in the industry to be powered totally by LNG both in port and at sea. This is expected to reduce exhaust emissions to help protect the environment and support Carnival Corporation's sustainability goals.
Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corporation, together with Bernard Meyer, CEO of Meyer Yards, Michael Thamm, CEO of Costa Group and Carnival Asia, and representatives of three of the Carnival Corporation brands that will receive the LNG ships – David Dingle, chairman of Carnival UK; Neil Palomba, president of Costa Cruises; and Felix Eichhorn, president of AIDA Cruises – gave the official "full steam ahead" signal for the keel laying of the first ship in the line, AIDAnova, which will be delivered by shipbuilders Meyer Werft Papenburg next fall.
Last year, Carnival signed an agreement with Shell to be the supplier of marine LNG to power the first two of its new LNG ships.
Carnival Corporation's Costa Cruises brand is expected to debut the industry's next cruise ship powered by LNG in 2019.
In additional to using LNG, Carnival Corporation and its brands have implemented a number of measures to protect the environment. Those measures are detailed in the company's recently released 2016 sustainability report and newly created sustainability website.
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